Identification of by-products issued from the catalytic oxidation of toluene by chemical and biological methods

Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes (BTEX) are substances that are very commonly encountered in almost all sectors of the industry. Consequently, these molecules may be present in large amounts in industrial exhausts loaded with VOCs. An effective method for their elimination is catalytic oxidation, which is an economic and ecologic alternative to thermal oxidation. The aim of this work is to reveal the by-products issued from the total oxidation of toluene by palladium-based catalysts. The identification of these by-products was done using a chemical and toxicological approach. A toxicological validation of the developed catalysts was performed by coupling the catalytic system with an air–liquid interface (aLI) system, called Vitrocell^®, to expose lung cells to catalytic exhausts.