Efficiency and Energy Demand in Polishing Treatment of Wastewater Treatment Plants Effluents: Photoelectrocatalysis vs. Photocatalysis and Photolysis

Photoelectrocatalysis (PEC), photolysis (PL), and photocatalysis (PC) were applied to increase the biodegradability of wastewaters effluents sampled from a plant collecting both municipal aqueous waste. In PEC, catalyst was porous TiO2 photoanode obtained by plasma electrolytic oxidation electrically polarized during operation. PC dispersion powders used. The same irradiation shielding, similar surface areas set for allowing straightforward evaluation catalytic effect electrical polarization Results showed that chemical oxygen demand (COD) color removal rates follow order: PEC > PL PC. specific rate (SBR) increased following order, process SBR values more than twice higher operating costs calculated based on energy per order COD, color, values, demonstrating at laboratory scale is significantly lower other two tested processes.