Reactivating Effect of Water on Freon 12 Decomposition Catalysts.
Effect of water was investigated on the durability of titania–silica (TiO2/SiO2), phosphate–supported zirconia (PO4/ZrO2), and boron phosphate (BPO4) catalysts in the vapor phase decomposition of dichloro–difluoromethane (Freon 12). Water helped to maintain their catalytic activity by eliminating inorganic fluorines produced during the reaction. No deactivation nor configuration change was observed for BPO4 catalyst even after 35 h. Thus the way is open to the development of practical process for catalytic detoxification of chlorofluorocarbons (Freon’s).