Abstract
Inexpensive glass fiber (GF) support as well as copper acetate precursor recovered in situ from waste printed wiring boards (WPWB) have been utilized for preparation of GF supported CuO-TiO2nano-photocatalyst (NP) through sequential sol-gel and wet-impregnation methodology deploying solar-resembling quartz-halogen radiation (SRQHR) (wavelength: 0.32–1.1 μm).The optimal NP (QGF-CuO-TiO27.5) possessed finer nano TiO2 and CuO crystalline phases (7.31 nm) and higher BET surface area (62.107 m2.g−1) compared to conventionally prepared NP (crystallite size: 33.38 nm, surface area: 42.170 m2.g−1); thus, advocating the supremacy of SRQHR over conventional thermal-energy. Furthermore, UV–Vis-NIR diffuse spectroscopy revealed that QGF-CuO-TiO27.5 was capable of absorbing light in the visible spectrum, owing to its low bandgap energy (2.26 eV). Taguchi orthogonal design was used to investigate and optimize the efficacy of the prepared NPs in lignin (rice straw extracted) photo-degradation process employing an energy-efficient SRQHR assisted rotating batch reactor (RBR). The optimal QGF-CuO-TiO27.5 rendered a significantly higher lignin photo-degradation (89.73%) compared to the conventionally prepared NP (54.53%) at optimal conditions (70 °C; 50 min; 200 rpm). Moreover, lignin photo-degradation in RBR exhibited higher degradation percentage (89.73%) compared to that (67.78%) achieved in a conventionally agitated reactor. Overall sustainability of lignin photo-degradation process for production of lignin-derivatives (vanillin, syringaldehyde, vanillic acid) analysed via life cycle assessment (LCA) study evidently revealed that the QGF-CuO-TiO27.5 catalysed process resulted less environmental impacts in comparison with its conventional counterpart and commercial nano-TiO2 catalyst.
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