Textile Dye Removal Using Photocatalytic Cascade Disk Reactor Coated by ZnO Nanoparticles

Dye effluents with low BOD/COD ratio and varied chemical structures are usually very recalcitrant to microbial degradation. Therefore, different process was used for the treatment of dye effluent. Heterogeneous photocatalyst process has been widely used as leading green technology for dye removal. The process utilizes a semiconductor photocatalyst (such as TiO2 or ZnO) and UV light to oxidize the recalcitrant organic compounds to inorganic ions, carbon dioxide and water. Photocatalytic process needs to photorectors and hydraulic parameters play an important role in mass transfer phenomenon in photocatalytic reactors. These fundamental parameters are flow rate, relative roughness and Reynolds number. This research experimentally evaluates flow rate and artificial relative roughness in order to determine the factors influencing the removal efficiency and reaction rate. For this purpose, a cascade photocatalytic reactor is constructed which consists of similar Plexiglas plates coated by various roughness. Numerical simulation usually overcomes complex reactor models which takes reasonable cost respect to experimental study. Here, OpenFOAM software is also utilized to perform a numerical study. Regime and velocity of sewage are simulated in photocatalytic flow with/without considering relative roughness.