Theoretical assessment of the catalytic (Pt/TiO2) oxidation of formaldehyde at ambient temperature

A recent article [C. Zhang, H. He, K. Tanaka, Catal. Commun. 6 (2005) 211] investigates the use of a Pt/TiO2 catalyst for the oxidation of formaldehyde. The findings demonstrate nearly complete oxidation at ambient temperature (25 degrees C for values of the surface velocity in the range 5-10 x 10(4) h(-1) and a 45% destruction when using a surface velocity of 20 x 104 h(-1). In the present communication, this oxidation was assessed by theoretical considerations of the reaction kinetics. The destruction efficiency was predicted using a first-order reaction rate expression, combined with different theoretical or semi-empirical equations for the intrinsic reaction rate constant. Predicted and experimental data are in fair agreement, thus validating the theoretical approach and confirming the experimental results. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.