Design and fabrication of continuous flow photoreactor using semiconductor oxides for degradation of organic pollutants

Abstract

The goal of this research was to design and fabricate the continuous flow photoreactor (PR) to degrade organic contaminants in wastewater using heterogeneous photocatalytic process. Different nanomaterials such as ZnO and SiO2 were produced via a hydrothermal procedure and mixed with TiO2 (Degussa) to act as a catalyst. The nanomaterials were doped with polysulfone (PS) to prepare modified flat sheet membranes via the phase inversion process. The characterization of the synthesized nanomaterials and membranes were carried out via Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), particle size analyzer (PSA), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and contact angle (CA) measurement. Also, the efficiency of the synthesized polymeric nanocomposites (NCs) membranes and the PR were evaluated by revising the outcome of different parameters. These parameters included feed water pH, flow rate, the presence of an oxidizing agent (H2O2), pollutant types, and pollutant concentrations. Phenol compound and methyl orange (MO) were utilized as examples of organic pollutants. The obtained results using the (PS/TiO2/ZnO) (NCs) membrane (I) showed the degradation of 72% and 16.5% in the case of Phenol and MO respectively, under ultraviolet light. Conversely, the degradation was 30% and 11% using Phenol and MO respectively, under visible light. Furthermore, the (PS/TiO2/SiO2) (NCs) membrane (II) was able to degrade 18.1% and 40.3% in the case of Phenol under UV radiation and visible light, respectively. The performance was improved by increasing the oxygen content, through the addition of H2O2 and the degradation attained 97% and 95% under visible light in case of MO and Phenol, respectively using membrane (II).