Heterogeneous photocatalysis is one of the advanced oxidation processes (AOP's). These are very used nowadays for their implementation in tertiary water treatment with solar activation, with very good results. In this study, TiO 2 porous films were synthesized by sol-gel method. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) 4000 was used as a templating reagent, which is oxidized at a lower temperature than TiO 2. This allows the formation of a "skeleton" of porous TiO 2 with increased surface area, resulting in higher photocatalytic activity. The film characterization was made with help of FE-SEM microscope, XRD diffractometer and scotch tape test. Finally, the oxidation experiments were performed using methylene blue as a model pollutant and they revealed an increase in the photocatalytic activity of porous films in comparison with the non-porous films.
Aqueous acesulfame-K was oxidized in a pilot solar photocatalytic reactor, equipped with a compound parabolic collector (CPC). The reactor has an area of 0.40 m2 of CPC collectors with geometrical concentration ratio of 1 and a simple mechanical configuration. The experiments of photocatalytic oxidation of acesulfame-K were performed by treating 2 L of water with an initial concentration of 15 mg/L. The photocatalyst used was P25 (Aeroxide TiO2) from Evonik. One of the goals of the research work was to find a set of conditions to efficiently remove this emerging concern pollutant. Results allowed proposing a set of reaction conditions that lead to a high removal of acesulfame-K. In addition, the experimental design allowed determining the effect of initial pH as well as the impact of initial concentrations of photocatalyst and chemical oxidant. The removal efficiency of acesulfame-K and related UV-absorbing species reached values up to 96-99 % and there was not a quantifiable amount of intermediate products (analyzed as UV absorbing species). Despite reaction time was fixed in 3 h for all the experiments, oxidation efficiencies higher than 95 % were reached at 2 h of reaction or even before.
Aqueous acesulfame-K was oxidized in a pilot solar photocatalytic reactor, equipped with a compound parabolic collector (CPC). The reactor has an area of 0.40 m2 of CPC collectors with geometrical concentration ratio of 1 and a simple mechanical configuration. The experiments of photocatalytic oxidation of acesulfame-K were performed by treating 2 L of water with an initial concentration of 15 mg/L. The photocatalyst used was P25 (Aeroxide TiO2) from Evonik. One of the goals of the research work was to find a set of conditions to efficiently remove this emerging concern pollutant. Results allowed proposing a set of reaction conditions that lead to a high removal of acesulfame-K. In addition, the experimental design allowed determining the effect of initial pH as well as the impact of initial concentrations of photocatalyst and chemical oxidant. The removal efficiency of acesulfame-K and related UV-absorbing species reached values up to 96-99 % and there was not a quantifiable amount of intermediate products (analyzed as UV absorbing species). Despite reaction time was fixed in 3 h for all the experiments, oxidation efficiencies higher than 95 % were reached at 2 h of reaction or even before.
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