A Laboratory-Based Case Study to Remove MTBE from Contaminated Water with Pure-WO<sub>3</sub> and Nano-WO<sub>3</sub> Catalysts Loaded with Ru and Pt

Abstract

This article describes a laboratory-based case study to remove methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) from contaminated water with tungsten oxide (WO3) catalysts loaded with ruthenium (Ru) and platinum (Pt) metals. Characterization of the synthesized catalysts were conducted by using the: (i) X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) data for the purity, (ii) visible light reaction condition for MTBE, (iii) solid-phase micro-extraction (SPME) technique incorporated with gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to assist the MTBE photo-oxidation process, (iv) catalyst syntheses from different concentrations of Ru in WO3, nano-WO3, Pt in nano-WO3, and (v) formation of byproducts during photocatalytic degradation of MTBE by using the GC-MS. The results revealed that the catalysts mainly consists of WO3 phase and there is no additional peaks from the metals, indicating that the Ru and Pt metals are well dispersed on WO3. Approximately 96% to 99% of the MTBE removal can quickly and accurately be achieved with a nanostructured WO3 catalyst loaded with Pt under visible light radiation between 2.5h and 3h. Moreover, with a nanocomposite WO3 catalyst loaded with Pt, photocatalytic MTBE removal is higher than with the pure WO3 catalyst loaded with Ru, and the pure nanostructured and micron-sized WO3. Finally, the formation of byproducts during the MTBE photocatalytic degradation revealed that the MTBE degradation essentially proceeds via formation of formic acid and 1,1-dimethylethyl ester before its complete degradation.