Iron titanate (FeTiO 3 ) obtained from rich titanium and iron mineral presented some absorption of UV light and photocatalytic activity for the degradation of phenol in aqueous solution. However, most of the reactant is converted to carboxylic acids that remain in the reaction mixture because natural ilmenite do not produce enough HO • radicals to completely mineralize the original reactant at the same rate as pure titania (Degussa P25). The XRD analysis of Fe-titania catalysts prepared by simple mixing of FeTiO 3 and TiO 2 showed that the structure of TiO 2 is not modified when small amounts of FeTiO 3 , in the order of 10% weight, are well mixed with pure titania. Therefore, the photocatalytic activity of these catalysts is not affected by the presence of FeTiO 3 . But, heavy ilmenite particles induce the separation of the catalysts particles after the photocatalytic degradation processes.
In this paper, solar photodegradation of caffeine in aqueous solution was studied, this organic compound is the most consumed stimulant around the world. The degradation experiments were carried outdoors in a solar reactor and Evonik-Degussa P25 TiO2was used as catalyst. The photochemical and photocatalytic effect were tested in aqueous solutions of caffeine. Experimental results indicate that the organic compound is easily degraded over a very short period of time using 0.5 g L-1of catalyst. The kinetic analysis indicates that the initial reaction rate of caffeine is described by the LH-HW model. However, the original compound cannot be mineralized very fast, caffeine is converted to other organic compounds with a longer lifetime before the mineralization, converting caffeine CO2and water.
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