Mesoporous Catalysts for Ambient Temperature Aqueous Phase Oxidation

Advanced development of mesoporous catalysts for ambient temperature oxidation of dissolved organic contaminants is proposed. Mesoporous materials consist of highly ordered three-dimensional structures with precisely controlled pore size distributions, relatively high surface areas, and surface affinities which promote the adsorption of aqueous organic contaminants. When used as a catalyst support, these features offer an effective means to overcome the primary factors which limit the performance of conventional catalysts. These innovative catalysts will facilitate the development of more effective methods for the destruction of organic contaminants in wastewaters generated aboard spacecraft, Lunar and planetary habitations. When fully developed, ambient temperature catalysts can be employed in the volatile removal assembly (VRA) or other similar aqueous phase catalytic oxidation reactors to both increase the degree of mineralization of organic contaminants and to drastically reduce the required operating temperature and pressure. These improved performance characteristics directly translate into reduced size, weight, and power consumption, and therefore will result in substantially lower Equivalent System Mass (ESM) for catalytic reactors which employ these innovative highly active ambient temperature catalysts. Feasibility of the proposed innovation was conclusively demonstrated during the Phase I project in which ambient temperature reaction rates were improved by a factor of 50 times.