Pt- and Pd-based catalysts are widely applied in VOCs emission control. In the industrial practice of VOCs purification, there is a strange habitual thought: when the price of platinum is high, platinum catalysts are considered to have good performance; when palladium is expensive, it is believed that palladium catalysts have good performance. No matter how you explain , the customers only believe in this truth.

As you know , the prices of platinum and palladium always fluctuate with the market demand. In past 10 years, platinum was priced higher than palladium for the major period, while palladium only surpassed platinum in price for a short period. Obviously, assessing the performance of platinum catalysts and palladium catalysts based on prices is unscientific.

Platinum Historical Chart

Palladium Historical Chart

Pt and Pd metal are used as the active components in Platinum catalysts and Palladium catalysts. It is difficult to directly compare their catalytic performance since additives and supports have a significant impact on the performance of the catalysts. However some different behaviors of Pt and Pd in catalytic combustion are concluded from

Progre Catalysis’s application experiience.

1. Catalytic performance of conventional VOCs depends on the matching of precious metals and promoters.
2. The thermal stability of Pd catalysts is usually higher than that of Pt catalyst.
3. Pd catalysts have higher activity for methane oxidation. While Pt catalysts have higher oxidation activity for multi carbon alkanes such as ethane, propane, and butane.
4. The oxidation activity of Pd catalyst for carbon monoxide is usually higher than that of Pt catalyst.
5. Bimetallic Pd/Pt catalysts could leverage the respective advantages of Pt and Pd.Pd-Pt catalysts, independently of the support, have considerably more stable methane conversion than the monometallic Pd catalyst.

Which is more suitable, Pt catalyst or Pd catalyst? Due to the complexity of VOCs , specific analysis is indispensable to select right precious metals and formulations for catalysts in industrial VOCs treatment.