Photooxidative Removal of p-Nitrophenol by UV/H2O2 Process in a Spinning Disk Photoreactor: Influence of Operating Parameters

In this paper, spinning disk photoreactor (SDP) has been used for the removal of a refractory pollutant, namely p-nitrophenol (PNP), in UV/H2O2 process. The effect of various parameters such as the plate type in the SDP, concentration of oxidant (H2O2), fluid volume, initial concentration of PNP, distance of the lamps from the spinning disk, distance of the lamps from each other, pH, and rotation speed of the spinning disk in the removal efficiency has been investigated. The results indicated that the use of scrobiculate disc instead of flat disc significantly increased the removal percentage of PNP from 46 to 100 % for the irradiation time of 20 min; it also increased with increasing H2O2 concentration, but the increase in fluid volume and the initial concentration of PNP reduced the removal percentage of PNP in the SDP. The increase in the distance of UV lamps from each other and from disc surface in the SDP reduced the removal percentage of PNP. However, the increase in pH to 5.5 increased removal efficiency while increasing pH above 5.5 reduced PNP removal efficiency. The disk rotation speed from 0 to 90 rpm increased the removal percentage from 49 to 70 % for the irradiation time of 5 min, but increasing the rotation speed to more than 90 rpm reduced the removal efficiency. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

A review of combined advanced oxidation technologies for the removal of organic pollutants from water

Water pollution through natural and anthropogenic activities has become a global problem causing short-and long-term impact on human and ecosystems. Substantial quantity of individual or mixtures of organic pollutants enter the surface water via point and nonpoint sources and thus affect the quality of freshwater. These pollutants are known to be toxic and difficult to remove by mere biological treatment. To date, most researches on the removal of organic pollutants from wastewater were based on the exploitation of individual treatment process. This single-treatment technology has inherent challenges and shortcomings with respect to efficiency and economics. Thus, application of two advanced treatment technologies characterized with high efficiency with respect to removal of primary and disinfection by-products in wastewater is desirable. This review article focuses on the application of integrated technologies such as electrohydraulic discharge with heterogeneous photocatalysts or sonophotocatalysis to remove target pollutants. The information gathered from more than 100 published articles, mostly laboratories studies, shows that process integration effectively remove and degrade recalcitrant toxic contaminants in wastewater better than single-technology processing. This review recommends an improvement on this technology (integrated electrohydraulic discharge with heterogeneous photocatalysts) viz-a-vis cost reduction in order to make it accessible and available in the rural and semi-urban settlement. Further recommendation includes development of an economic model to establish the cost implications of the combined technology. Proper monitoring, enforcement of the existing environmental regulations, and upgrading of current wastewater treatment plants with additional treatment steps such as photocatalysis and ozonation will greatly assist in the removal of environmental toxicants

Mathematical Kinetic Modelling and Representing Design Equation for a Packed Photoreactor with Immobilised TiO2-P25 Nanoparticles on Glass Beads in the Removal of C.I. Acid Orange 7

In this work, a design equation was presented for a batch-recirculated photoreactor composed of a packed bed reactor (PBR) with immobilised TiO2-P25 nanoparticle thin films on glass beads, and a continuous-flow stirred tank (CFST). The photoreactor was studied in order to remove C.I. Acid Orange 7 (AO7), a monoazo anionic dye from textile industry, by means of UV/TiO2 process. The effect of different operational parameters such as the initial concentration of contaminant, the volume of solution in CFST, the volumetric flow rate of liquid, and the power of light source in the removal efficiency were examined. A rate equation for the removal of AO7 is obtained by mathematical kinetic modelling. The results of reaction kinetic analysis indicate the conformity of removal kinetics with Langmuir-Hinshelwood model (kL-H = 0.74 mg L-1 min-1, Kads = 0.081 mg-1 L). The represented design equation obtained from mathematical kinetic modelling can properly predict the removal rate constant of the contaminant under different operational conditions (R2 = 0.963). Thus the calculated and experimental results are in good agreement with each other

Investigation of the effect of heat treatment process on characteristics and photocatalytic activity of TiO2-UV100 nanoparticles

The effect of heat treatment process on crystallite size, phase content, surface area, band gap energy and photocatalytic activity of TiO 2-UV100 nanoparticles were investigated. Heat treated TiO2 nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) isotherm and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) techniques, and its photocatalytic activity was investigated in the removal of C.I. Acid Red 88 (AR88), an anionic monoazo dye of acid class, as a model contaminant. Heat treatment process at 600 °C causes an increase in crystallite size and band gap energy of TiO2-UV100 nanoparticles. The results indicate that the nanoparticles treated for 1 h at 600 °C show the highest photocatalytic activity which can effectively degrade AR88 under UV-irradiation. Increasing heat treatment temperature above 600 °C led to reduction in TiO2 photoactivity which may be related to the anatase-rutile phase transformation, increasing particle size and decreasing specific surface area. Removal efficiency of AR88 with heat treated TiO 2-UV100 nanoparticles was sensitive to the operational parameters such as catalyst dosage, pollutant concentration and light intensity

Decolourization of tartrazine from aqueous solutions by coupling electrocoagulation with ZnO photocatalyst

Decolourization of tartrazine (C.I. Acid Yellow 23, AY23) in aqueous solutions has been investigated by coupling electrocoagulation and ZnO photocatalyst methods and also by a comparison between ZnO, UV, EC, UV/ZnO, UV/EC, and EC/UV/ZnO systems in the removal of AY23 as a model contaminant. Results indicated that the decolourization efficiency was in order of EC/UV/ZnO > UV/EC > EC > UV/ZnO > ZnO > UV. Combining EC with UV/ZnO can trigger the Fenton or Fenton-like reaction, which accelerates the rate of decolourization. Desired operating conditions for decolourization of 40 mg·dm-3 AY23 solution in EC/UV/ZnO process were [ZnO] 0=650 mg·dm-3, [NaCl] = 800 mg·dm-3, light intensity = 31/2 W·m-2, current density = 120 A·m-2, electrodes distance = 15 mm, pH = 6.29, stirring rate = 900 rpm and electrodes of steel 304/A1, which yielded 99.70% colour removal in 5 min of treatment time