Abstract
Ionic liquids (ILs) have attracted interest among researchers due to their tunable properties, which enable them to be used in a wide variety of applications. However, toxicity and biodegradation studies of ILs proved that most of the aromatic ILs, such as imidazolium, are highly toxic and non-biodegradable. Researchers have investigated several advance oxidation processes (AOPs) in order to evaluate the efficiency of the systems used to remove ILs from wastewater. However, their relatively high cost and environmental concerns have limited the application of these AOPs in industry. This research conducted a photocatalytic study using hybrid nanomaterials to evaluate the efficiency of this system as an alternative AOP system for the removal of ILs from wastewater. The synergistic effect of adsorption–photodegradation was introduced by depositing Fe-TiO2 onto functionalized activated carbon (AC). Nano-TiO2 was synthesized using the microemulsion method, then modified with a transition metal, and deposited onto oxidized AC. The photodegradation reaction of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride [bmim]Cl was then investigated under simulated visible light irradiation. It was observed that the overall efficiency of the system increased with the increasing amount of Fe loading. Our investigation revealed that extrinsic factors such as solution pH, the initial concentration of ILs, and photocatalyst dosage significantly affect the overall efficiency of the system. The optimum condition for the system was observed at pH 10, with initial ILs at 1 mM at 1 g/L of photocatalyst. The best performance photocatalyst was 0.2Fe-TiO2/AC.
Highlights
Ionic liquids (ILs) are chemicals that can be synthesized via the metathetic exchange of anion, neutralization with Brønsted acid, direct alkylation and alkylimidazole, or a carbonate route [1].Depending on its specific applications, the physical and chemical properties of ILs are tunable by varying its cation and anion
The first broader peak recorded at 766 cm−1 could be ascribed to the titania framework that had been deposited onto the activated carbon (AC), such as Ti–O–Ti [15,19,20]
From the analysis study of composition Fe loaded onto TiO2, it can be the efficiency of the system
Summary
Depending on its specific applications, the physical and chemical properties of ILs are tunable by varying its cation and anion. A few researchers who conducted biodegradation studies on ILs concluded that ILs with an aromatic ring cation, such as imidazolium, are non-biodegradable [3,4,5]. This type of IL has been widely used in bio-industry [1]. An efficient treatment system that is able to overcome the high solubility properties of ILs in water is urgently required. Advance oxidation processes (AOPs) are widely known for its high efficiency to Technologies 2017, 5, 82; doi:10.3390/technologies5040082 www.mdpi.com/journal/technologies
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