Abstract
The Design of Experiment (DoE) technique has been used to investigate the photo-electrochemical removal of diuron (DRN) from wastewater. The process is carried out in a photo-electrochemical flow reactor, in which titania nanotubular electrode is irradiated with a simulated solar light. Different operative conditions have been investigated, in a planned 23 full factorial design in which imposed current density, flow rate and initial concentration have been varied at two levels. The removal process of DRN was investigated in terms of specific removal rate (K) and cell voltage (E), which were assumed as objective functions: the results show that the applied current has a paramount effect on both of the objective functions. From the analyses of the intermediates, it appears that the investigated parameters may exert different effects on the distribution of the reaction products: the initial concentration of diuron and the electrode potential seem to play a more important role, in this case.
Highlights
Electrochemical advanced oxidation processes (EAOPs) have been widely studied for the treatment of bio-recalcitrant and persistent organic pollutants [1,2,3], including pesticides [4,5], pharmaceuticals and textile dyes [6,7,8], to mention a few
On the bases of previous work carried out in our laboratory [7], electrolyte flow rate (Q), along with applied current (I) and initial reactant concentration (C0 ), have been selected as control parameters which could influence the process of the reactant removal, while the electrode was irradiated by a constant light power, generated by the solar simulator
We discussed the behavior of raw TiO2 nanotubes during the photo-electrochemical oxidation of diuron, selected to represent the class of herbicides, often present in wastewaters
Summary
Electrochemical advanced oxidation processes (EAOPs) have been widely studied for the treatment of bio-recalcitrant and persistent organic pollutants [1,2,3], including pesticides [4,5], pharmaceuticals and textile dyes [6,7,8], to mention a few. EAOPs are based on the generation of hydroxyl radicals (·OH), which are non-selective and powerful oxidizing species exploitable as pre-treatment to improve the biodegradability, or as post treatment to remove traces of organic pollutants [9,10]. Among the EAOPs proposed for the treatment of wastewaters containing organic pollutants, photo-electrocatalysis (PEC) has been successfully applied, due to its high efficiency in mild conditions [11,12,13]. Over the last 15 years, an increasing number of papers has been published on PEC, applied to the removal of a large variety of organic pollutants, most of them dyes and, to a lesser extent, chemicals and drugs, and to the treatment of real wastewaters [17,18].
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