Molybdenum Carbide Catalyst Enables Efficient Conversion of Chlorinated Volatile Organic Waste into Syngas through Catalytic Steam Reforming

Catalytic steam reforming offers a groundbreaking approach for converting industrial chlorinated volatile organic compound (CVOC) waste into valuable syngas (H-2 and CO) and recovering HCl. However, the lack of C-Cl bond activation ability in traditional transition metal catalysts results in their insufficient reforming activity toward CVOCs. Herein, a novel molybdenum carbide (beta-Mo2C) catalyst is developed and loaded onto a gamma-Al2O3 support synthesized through a self-assembly method. The gamma-Al2O3 support provides abundant unsaturated coordinated Al3+ ions, which effectively anchor and disperse beta-Mo2C nanoparticles. In the catalytic steam reforming reaction at 600 degrees C, the beta-Mo2C/gamma-Al2O3 catalyst achieves a conversion efficiency higher than 95% and syngas yields of 82.4-92.3% for various typical industrial CVOCs. The mechanistic research reveals that the coordination between C and Mo atoms in beta-Mo2C leads to a slightly electron-deficient state of the Mo sites, accompanied by a high density of unoccupied 4d orbitals. These characteristics are highly advantageous for the adsorption and dechlorination of CVOC molecules. The produced nonchlorinated intermediates can subsequently be oxidized to CO and H-2 by hydroxyl radicals on adjacent Mo sites.