Catalytic ozonation of volatile organic compounds (ethyl acetate) at normal temperature

[Display omitted] •Activated carbon fiber (ACF) which is pretreated with 10% H2SO4 can increase specific surface area and pore volume obviously.•ACF loaded with Au, Ag, Pt and Pd noble metals are prepared by impregnation-chemical reduction method.•Ethyl acetate can be degraded by Pd/ACF under normal temperature. Catalytic treatments of VOCs at normal temperature can greatly reduce the cost and temperature of processing, and improve the safety factor in line with the requirements of green chemistry. Activated carbon fiber (ACF) was pretreated with 10% H2SO4 by single factor optimization to increase specific surface area and pore volume obviously. The catalytic ozonation performance of ACF loaded with Au, Ag, Pt and Pd noble metals on ethyl acetate was investigated and Pd/ACF was selected as the optimal catalyst which had certain stability. Pd is uniformly distributed on the surface of ACF, and Palladium mainly exists in the form of Pd0 with a amount of Pd+2. The specific surface area of the catalysts gradually decreases as the loading increases. The activation energy of ethyl acetate calculated by Arrhenius equation is 113 kJ·mol−1. With 1% Pd loading and the concentration ratio of ozone to ethyl acetate is 3:1, catalytic ozonation performance is maximized and the conversion rate of ethyl acetate reached to 60% in 30–50 °C at 15,000–30,000 h−1.