Advanced Oxidation Process for Phenol Degradation By UV/TiO2 In Aqueous Solutions

Phenolic compounds are widely used in industries and other daily life for various purposes and enter in the industrial effluent and ultimately the final disposal of this effluent which contain phenol compounds are different water bodies which may get contaminated through the continuous disposal of the these effluents. Highly toxicity and carcinogenicity of these compounds can cause considerable effects on the aquatic ecosystem and human health. The main focus of this research is to study the efficiency of photocatalytic degradation of phenolic compounds in aquatic solution by using UV and combination of UV/TiO2; this is one of the Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs), which are techniques for the degradation of detrimental organic pollutants resistant to traditional treatment methods. In this experimental research the phenol concentration used was 30mg/L (constant) and contact time, pH and amount of TiO2 were considered in photocatalytic system as the basic variables affecting the removal efficiencies. Phenol concentrations before and after the treatment were determined spectrophotometerically at 500 nm. The removal efficiencies of phenol by only UV exposure is negligible, combination of UV and TiO2 can cause higher efficiencies of phenol removal. By UV exposure only 7, 6 & 4 % of phenol was degraded although the UV/TiO2degrades 17, 13 & 30 % of phenol in 2 hours at pH 3, 7 & 11 respectively. It was found that increasing the value of variables in the experiment can maximally remove the phenol therefore combined UV/TiO2 process may be applied as an effective process for the removal of phenol from aquatic clarification such as industrial wastewaters and polluted water resources.