Photocatalytic Degradation of Textile Dyeing Wastewater Using Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide

Abbas J Attia,Falah H Hussein,Salih H Kadhim

doi:10.1155/2008/876498

Abstract

Photodegradation of a real textile dyeing wastewater taken from Hilla textile factory in Babylon Governorate, Iraq have been investigated. Photocatalytic degradation was carried out over suspensions of titanium dioxide or zinc oxide under ultraviolet irradiation. Photodegradation percentage was followed spectrophometrically by the measurements of absorbance at λmax equal to 380 nm. The rate of photodegradation increased linearly with time of irradiation when titanium dioxide or zinc oxide was used. A maximum color removal of 96% was achieved after irradiation time of 2.5 hours when titanium dioxide used at 303K and 82% color reduction was observed when zinc oxide used for the same period and at the same temperature. The effect of temperature on the efficiency of photodegradation of dyestuff was also studied. The activation energy of photodegradation was calculated and found to be equal to 21 ± 1 kJ mol-1 on titanium dioxide and 24 ± 1 kJ mol-1 on zinc oxide.

Highlights

Semiconductors are used to degrade organic pollutants in water to less harmful inorganic material[1]
The present work reports an investigation of photocatalytic decolorization of real textile wastewater of Hilla Textile Factory (Iraq), using TiO2, and ZnO as photocatalysts with irradiation with UV-light at adifferent temperatures
In this work U.V. radiation was used, while solar radiation was used in the previous work

Summary

Introduction

Semiconductors are used to degrade organic pollutants in water to less harmful inorganic material[1]. Hussein et al[4] reported that titanium dioxide and zinc oxide have good photocatalytic properties nominated both catalysts to be promising substrates for photodegradation of water pollutants and show the appropriate activity in the range of solar radiation. Recent studies focused on the most important photocatalytic applications of titanium dioxide and zinc oxide.

Results

Conclusion