Design of Photocatalytic Reactor for Degradation of Phenol in Wastewater

Abstract

The photocatalytic reactors can operate using catalyst suspended in the solution or immobilized on various supports. Photocatalytic reactors with suspended catalyst give much better contact between the photocatalyst and dissolved impurities comparing to reactors with immobilized catalyst. Titanium dioxide (TiO 2) is a promising photocatalyst, when exposed to sunlight or UV rays, it decomposes the phenol present in wastewater. The available reactors are not so efficient in terms of light contact pattern. The aim of the present study was to design the new reactor and analyze its performance for removal of phenol from water with Titanium dioxide as the photocatalyst. The various parameters were studied to observe the behavior of designed reactor like variations in the initial feed concentration of phenol, mass of catalyst, and change in the intensity of UV light & its source, and aeration of the system. The reactor performance was evaluated on the basis on change in concentration with respect to time. The performance of the reactor was studied by running the reactor in fluidized state for a known feed concentration of phenol. The designed reactor has given a better degradation of phenol up to 95.27 % within one hours of time, which when compared to existing conversion of 94 % in two hours.

Photocatalytic activity of zinc oxide (ZnO) synthesized through different methods

“…Apparently photocatalyst played crucial roles in ensuring the success of photocatalytic treatment. Photocatalyst is defined as a semiconductor which activated through the photon absorption of radiation and consequently producing hydroxyl radical as oxidant to accelerate the reaction [9]. A well-known photocatalyst ZnO received much attention for photocatalytic application due to its effective, inexpensive, and non-toxic behavior [10].…”

A fluidized-bed reactor for the photocatalytic mineralization of phenol on TiO2-coated silica gel

“…As an alternative to slurry-type systems, the photocatalyst may be immobilized onto a support material such as quartz, glass, zeolite, or silica gel, eliminating or minimizing the need for downstream removal [8, 11, 12, 13, 14]. However, catalyst immobilization is not without shortcomings; for instance, it results in a much lower surface-to-mass ratio, which restricts processing capacities due to possible mass transfer limitations [15, 16].…”

Studies on the Effect of TiO2 Nano Photocatalysis in the Pretreatment of Seawater Reverse Osmosis Desalination

“…Titanium dioxide is mostly used because of its high photocatalytic activity, large stability to sunlight illumination, cheap price, resistance to chemicals, insoluble in water and it is nontoxic [7].…”