28 - Advanced oxidation process for effluent treatment in textile, pharmaceutical, and tannery industries

Abstract

Water is a basic requirement in process industries such as pharmaceutical, textile, tannery, and pesticides industries. These industries generate a large amount of wastewater that is colored, and has high Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD). Various treatment techniques such as chemical methods and biological methods have been adopted to treat wastewater. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have gained immense importance in recent years as it completely mineralizes the emerging and nondegradable organic pollutants into carbon dioxide and water at feasible ambient reaction conditions. Photocatalysis is an AOP that uses visible and ultraviolet (UV) light in the presence of a catalyst and completely degrades the organic pollutant. Semiconductor materials are widely used as a photocatalyst and it can be used for the UV and visible region based on their bandgap energy. Extensive research was performed over the past few years in the development of a catalyst for the degradation of nondegradable organic pollutant as well as the design of a photocatalytic reactor to minimize photon transfer and mass transfer limitations. This chapter concentrates on various photocatalytic methods, wastewater from textile, pharmaceutical and tannery industries and their treatment methods, factors affecting photocatalytic degradation and photocatalytic reactors used for the treatment of said industrial wastewater.