Synergic effects on degradation of a mixture of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in a UV slurry photocatalytic membrane reactor and its cost estimation

Abstract

In this study, batch experiments were conducted to investigate the removals of three polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) namely phenanthrene (PHE), naphthalene (NAP) and acenaphthene (ANA) as a mixture during photocatalysis (UV-TiO2), membrane separation (MS) and integrated photocatalytic membrane (UV-TiO2 + MS) processes in an indigenously developed integrated photocatalytic membrane reactor (PMR). Synergic effects were observed during the removals of model compounds when they were in the mixture as compared to their removals as a sole compound in aqueous solutions. The mineralization efficiencies in terms of total organic carbon (TOC) removals were also evaluated during UV-TiO2 and UV-TiO2 + MS processes. The degradation of PAHs mixture during photocatalytic degradation followed the pseudo-first order kinetics. Furthermore in this study, the cost estimation of PMR was carried out by calculating the treatment cost for both advanced oxidation process (AOP) system and membrane (MS) process separately. The treatment cost per m3 of effluent containing PAHs in PMR was found to be $ 10.4 to $ 13.6 or ₹ 728 to ₹ 752.