Removal of Humic Acid by Photocatalytic Process: Effect of Light Intensity

Humic acid is commonly found in natural water as it is one of the by-products from decomposition of plants and animal residues. In a conventional water treatment process, which chlorine is common used as a disinfectant, the presence of humic acid could lead to the formation of carcinogenic substances, such as trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids. Thus, removal of humic acid from raw water before disinfection process is necessary. Photocatalytic reaction using Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) as a catalyst is one of the most effective techniques for degrading humic acid. The efficiency of this process depends on several factors; and, one of these factors is light intensity. This research investigated the effect of light intensity (35, 225 and 435 µW/cm2) and studied kinetic of photocatalytic degradation of humic acid, using commercial TiO2 Degussa P25 as a photocatalyst. Concentration of humic acid in water was monitored using UV254 absorbance and concentration of total organic compound was measured using a Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOC) every 30 min. The results showed that the removal efficiency of humic acid increased with increasing light intensity and then becoming asymptotic. At light intensity of 435 µW/cm2 and initial humic acid concentration of 4 mg/L with TiO2 loading of 100 mg/L was found to have highest removal efficiency, nearly 95% of humic acid measured by UV254; however, the removal efficiency of total organic compound was found only 20%. The photocatalytic degradation rate of humic acid was followed by Langmuir - Hinshelwood (L-H) kinetic models, and the reactivity constant kL–H values for the light intensity of 35, 225 and 435 µW/cm2 were found as 0.049, 0.152 and 0.178 mg L-1 min-1, respectively

Synthesis of Porous Materials and Their Microstructural Control through Ice Templating

Ice-templating is a simple, practical kind of template synthesis which consists of sol-gel polycondensation, unidirectional freezing of hydrosols or hydrogels, and pore-preserving drying method, such as freeze drying, thereby resulting in desirable porous materials. The unidirectional freezing may be achieved by either immersion freezing or contact freezing. Freeze-dried materials contain porous microstructures that are replicas of the ice crystals formed during the unidirectional freezing process. Two similar but slightly different applications of ice-templating will be investigated here. Fabrication of macroporous foam materials by unidirectional freezing of an aqueous suspension of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) dispersed by chitosan is a concrete example of functionalization of an electroconductive foam, which is a composite material made from a polymer and CNTs. As expected, their electroconductive properties can be controlled by the fabrication method and condition. Additional examples of porous materials synthesized by ice-templating are porous microfibers and microhoneycombs of silica, titania, silica-alumina, titania-silica, and even carbon. In the preparation, the morphology and porous structure can be controlled by the freezing conditions and synthesis conditions of the corresponding hydrogels, respectively

Mesoporous RF-Xerogels by Facile Hydrothermal Synthesis

Mesoporous resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) xerogels were difficult to obtain by conventional sol-gel polymerization at atmospheric pressure because the resulting tenuous RF-gel structures tended to shrink or collapse during subsequent hot-air drying. To avoid this problem, costly and energy-intensive supercritical drying and freeze-drying are often used. In this work the main goal was to produce high-quality RF xerogels with good mesoporosity and high surface area by employing a hydrothermal process. The hydrogel synthesis was carried out in an autoclave at elevated temperature and pressure in order to sufficiently strengthen its network structure. The initial reactant ratio was held constant to search for most suitable hydrothermal temperature and initial pH. The experimental results showed that the reaction in the autoclave at 140ºC and initial pH of 6 could successfully produce RF xerogels with good mesoporosity (peaking pore radius rpeak = 2.38 nm), high specific surface area and large pore volume. The hydrothermal process was on the overall relatively simple, low-cost, and less time-consuming compared to the conventional atmospheric method

Role of Surface Area, Primary Particle Size, and Crystal Phase on Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticle Dispersion Properties

Characterizing nanoparticle dispersions and understanding the effect of parameters that alter dispersion properties are important for both environmental applications and toxicity investigations. The role of particle surface area, primary particle size, and crystal phase on TiO2 nanoparticle dispersion properties is reported. Hydrodynamic size, zeta potential, and isoelectric point (IEP) of ten laboratory synthesized TiO2 samples, and one commercial Degussa TiO2 sample (P25) dispersed in different solutions were characterized. Solution ionic strength and pH affect titania dispersion properties. The effect of monovalent (NaCl) and divalent (MgCl2) inert electrolytes on dispersion properties was quantified through their contribution to ionic strength. Increasing titania particle surface area resulted in a decrease in solution pH. At fixed pH, increasing the particle surface area enhanced the collision frequency between particles and led to a higher degree of agglomeration. In addition to the synthesis method, TiO2 isoelectric point was found to be dependent on particle size. As anatase TiO2 primary particle size increased from 6 nm to 104 nm, its IEP decreased from 6.0 to 3.8 that also results in changes in dispersion zeta potential and hydrodynamic size. In contrast to particle size, TiO2 nanoparticle IEP was found to be insensitive to particle crystal structure