Photocatalytic Treatment of Olive Mill Wastewater by Magnetic Core Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles

The photocatalytic degradation of organic compounds of olive mill wastewater (OMWW) was investigated by using core-shell-shell Fe3O4/SiO2/TiO2 nanoparticles as catalyst. The preparation of nanoparticles was performed by coating onto magnetic nanoparticles a SiO2 layer, using Stober method and TiO2 layer, using sol-gel method. The photo catalyst was characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS), zeta-potential measurement, UV-visible spectroscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction (EDX), scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Batch photo reactor, irradiated by an UV lamp of 45 W, was used to check the photocatalytic activity of the produced nanoparticles. The organic content of OMWW was evaluated by COD measurements. The photo degradation process was optimized by using 1.5 g/L core-shell-shell nanoparticles. The obtained results showed a high activity of synthesized nanoparticles for photocatalytic degradation of the OMWW organic compounds. Moreover, the recovery of the magnetic core photo catalyst by using a magnetic trap was proven.