Abstract
The microwave-assisted photocatalytic degradation (MW/PC) of dimethyl phthalate (DMP) was investigated, using a microwave discharged electrodeless lamp (MDEL) as the UV source. DMP could be rapidly and completely degraded by the MW/PC process. The effects of photocatalyst dosage, UV light intensity, initial pH and concentration of DMP, as well as irradiation time, were studied in detail. Synergistic effects were found to exist between microwave irradiation and TiO2 photocatalysis, and the greater efficiency of the MW/PC process might be ascribed to non-thermal effects of microwave irradiation. Detection results confirmed that microwave irradiation could give rise to the generation of hydroxyl radicals. The major intermediates of DMP in the MW/PC process were deduced to be phthalic acid monomethyl ester, phthalic acid, o-phenyl diethyl ketone and o-phthalic anhydride. Based on the results, two initial degradation pathways of DMP were proposed.
Highlights
Dimethyl phthalate (DMP) is one of the listed endocrine disrupters which may cause chromosome injuries in human leucocytes and interfere with the reproductive systems and normal development of animals and humans.[1]
Results showed that the microwave-assisted photocatalytic degradation (MW/photocatalysis alone (PC)) process was much superior to the PC and the thermal-assisted photocatalysis (TH/PC) processes on the degradation of DMP, especially for the first 10 min
It could be concluded that microwave irradiation could greatly accelerate the photocatalytic process, and significant synergistic effects existed between microwave irradiation and TiO2 photocatalysis
Summary
Dimethyl phthalate (DMP) is one of the listed endocrine disrupters which may cause chromosome injuries in human leucocytes and interfere with the reproductive systems and normal development of animals and humans.[1] DMP is widely used as plasticizers to improve the flexibility and durability of consumer products, food packaging materials and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics.[2] DMP is frequently identified in wastewater effluents and river water on account of its high mobility in the aquatic system.[3] The most common method for the removal of DMP from wastewater is biological treatment, which is based on the. A great deal of attention has been paid to the photocatalytic degradation of alkyl phthalate esters using titanium dioxide either immobilized on films or dispersed in aqueous suspensions.[7,8] owing to the disadvantages of TiO -based photocatalytic degradation, such as high recombination rate among electron/hole pairs, the quantum yield efficiency of photocatalytic process was relatively low and researches should be conducted to enhance the efficiency of photocatalytic processes.
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