New compact multi option photo reactor for the removal of contaminants of emerging concern from wastewater

Abstract

The goal of this work is to design and set up a new multi option photo reactor with a high compactness to remove contaminants of emerging concern from wastewater. In this reactor, different advanced oxidation processes can be conducted simultaneously, such as electrochemical oxidation, photolysis and photocatalysis with TiO2 nanotubes array, therefore, these simple technologies and their coupling were studied, giving rise to photoelectrocatalytic oxidation. The efficiencies of these processes were evaluated according to the removed amount of ofloxacin, a pharmaceutical compound used as model of contaminant of emerging concern. The characterization of the prepared photocatalysts/electrodes of TiO2 nanotubes array was conducted by SEM and XRD, and it was observed that the nanotubes were formed in the anatase form (active phase for the photocatalysis process) with suitable diameter and length. The results show that the coupling of these technologies is possible, observing high process efficiencies. Therefore, the design of this new reactor opens the door to a highly efficient process to remove contaminants of emerging concern from wastewater at low cost and with easy implantation and environmental compatibility, making possible to use only sunlight as a reagent.