Concerns over water contamination
by biorecalcitrant, persistent
organic pollutants have emphasized the need for effective, cheap,
and scalable treatment methods. Photocatalysis offers the potential
advantages of using air as the oxidant, ambient conditions for reaction,
and sunlight as the source of energy; however, identifying a sustainable
catalyst support and sunlight-active, earth-abundant photocatalysts
is challenging. This study demonstrates for the first time the development
of a ZnO/cellulose nanofiber (CNF) continuous flow photoreactor for
fast and effective degradation of industrial pollutants 1,4-dioxane
and malachite green and model pollutant methylene blue in water. The
novel sun-flow reactor consists of open, interconnected parallel channels
with a continuous flow of water containing the chosen pollutant circulated
over the catalyst under ultraviolet (UV)A/B irradiation from direct
sunlight. Mass spectrometry (MS), gas chromatography (GC)-MS, liquid
chromatography (LC)-MS, and inductively coupled plasma (ICP)-MS analyses
were used to investigate and quantify the extent of degradation and
the byproducts formed in the process. Aqueous solutions of 10 ppm
methylene blue and malachite green, as well as their reaction byproducts,
were reduced below 0.1 ppm (the detection limit) with an energy per
order (EE/O) figure of merit of 2.2 kWh/m3 per order. A
3.5 ppm aqueous solution of 1,4-dioxane was reduced to 0.034 ppm with
an EE/O figure of merit of 1.6 kWh/m3 per order.