The hydrolysis of hydrogen cyanide over Nb/La–TiOx catalyst

Abstract A series of catalysts, including TiO 2 , Fe–TiO x , Ni–TiO x , Nb–TiO x Co–TiO x , and Nb/La–TiO x , were prepared by the sol–gel method and evaluated to investigate their activities for the hydrolysis of HCN. Catalyst Nb/La–TiO x was determined to possess a markedly enhanced HCN hydrolysis capability. The characterization of catalysts was performed using N 2 adsorption–desorption, XRD, XPS, SEM, EDS, TEM, and TPD. The addition of Nb and La to the catalyst resulted in the largest specific surface and mesoporous structure with higher catalytic activity. Moreover, the addition of La increased the number of acidic sites and enhanced the adsorption of water. These characteristics enabled the Nb/La–TiO x catalyst to exhibit an excellent performance for the hydrolysis of HCN. Based on the catalytic activity testing and characterization results, a plausible reaction pathway was proposed and discussed in this paper.