Platinum Metals Review - Volume 37, Issue 4, 1993

Halogenated volatile organic compounds are associated with a broad range of industrial processes, but when discharged into the atmosphere they constitute a major source of air pollution. Recognition of the potentially damaging effects that these emissions can have on the environment is leading to increasing demands for their control. Catalytic combustion appears to offer advantages over thermal destruction, resulting from lower incineration temperatures and higher destructive efficiencies. While platinum metals catalyst systems are known to be the most effective for the catalytic destruction of non-halogenated volatile organic compounds, only a relatively small amount of data has been published on their performance for destroying halogenated volatile organic compounds; this paper reports on an investigation of catalysts developed for this purpose.

Organised by the Dalton Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the fifth International Conference on the Chemistry of the Platinum Group Metals was held at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, on 11th to 16th July 1993. Previous meetings in this series have been held in Bristol (1981), Edinburgh (1984), Sheffield (1987) and Cambridge (1990). More than four hundred delegates from thirty-three countries, attended the meeting for a programme of forty-two lectures and over two hundred poster presentations.