Catalytic and carrier properties of non-metallic minerals and energy saving and carbon reduction
Non-metallic minerals (materials) are used as catalytic materials in industrial production processes, including chemical catalysis and photochemical catalysts or carriers, to speed up the reaction process due to their properties such as cation exchange, porosity, large surface area, and unsaturated surface chemical bonds , Improve product purity or output efficiency, etc., and achieve the purpose of saving energy, reducing consumption and reducing carbon.
For example, kaolin, zeolite, activated clay, etc. are used as catalysts and carriers; some minerals with semiconducting properties have excellent photocatalytic properties, not only have photocatalytic degradation of organic waste and antibacterial effects, but also can photocatalyze water under the action of solar energy. , CO2 into hydrogen, methane and other fuels.
Chemical catalysis uses catalysts that alter the rate of a chemical reaction during the action of reactants without appearing in the products themselves. The active component can be a single substance or a plurality of substances.
Mineral catalysts are substances that are inherently adsorptive and have certain catalytic activity. They can be used in high-temperature and high-acid-base environments, and are usually used as catalyst carriers. The common ones are kaolin, bentonite, diatomite, zeolite, attapulgite, sepiolite, etc. and their modified activation products, such as acid activated kaolin, activated clay, 4A or 5A zeolite, etc.
Photocatalytic technology is a new technology that can use solar energy for clean energy production, environmental pollution control and carbon dioxide conversion. Many fields have broad prospects. For example, in photocatalytic hydrogen production, solar energy can be used to convert water into hydrogen and oxygen; in photocatalytic synthesis, carbon dioxide can be converted into fuels such as methane and methanol; the industrial application of these two technologies can greatly reduce the consumption of energy and minerals. Utilization, thereby reducing carbon dioxide emissions, has broad application prospects in solving major problems such as global energy shortages and carbon dioxide emission reductions.
Naturally produced anatase, rutile, birnessite, hematite, goethite, etc. all have a certain photocatalytic ability, while montmorillonite, diatomite, kaolinite, mica powder, natural pumice and expansive Perlite has excellent properties such as large surface area, strong adsorption, loose and porous, high temperature resistance, acid and alkali resistance, etc., and is often used as a carrier for photocatalysts.
Using rutile as a photocatalytic material to treat wastewater containing azo dyes has both adsorption and photocatalytic degradation effects, and nano-photocatalytic active particles such as anatase TiO2, C3N4, and perovskite are loaded on montmorillonite and diatomite , mica powder, etc., not only increases the dispersion and specific surface area of active components, thereby improving photocatalytic efficiency, but also facilitates the recovery and reuse of composite photocatalysts in the process of industrial wastewater treatment.
The “mineral film” widely distributed on the top layer of the earth’s land is considered to be the fourth largest circle of the earth, and it is a natural photoelectric conversion system. Rich in birnessite, hematite, goethite, anatase, rutile and other semiconductor minerals, it has good sunlight response ability, stable, sensitive and long-term photoelectric conversion performance, and converts solar energy into mineral photoelectrons under sunlight radiation Energy can not only produce oxygen and hydrogen by photocatalytically splitting water, but also promote the conversion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and water into carbonate minerals.
It can be seen that minerals with semiconductor properties widely exist in nature and have always played the role of photocatalysts. This not only shows the role of non-metallic minerals widely distributed on the earth’s surface for carbon storage and carbon reduction, but also provides a direction for the development of new photocatalytic mineral materials.