Fabrication of UV/ TiO2 nanotubes / Pd system by electrochemical anodization for furfural photocatalytic degradation

The aim of this study was to degrade furfural by a new nanotube system. To degrade some organic pollutants as well as to reduce the amount of furfural which is a well-known pollutant in oil industry, the photocatalytic process along with ultraviolet (UV) irradiation may be employed. In this study, the UV/TiO2/Pd system in which the nanoparticles of palladium doped into the titanium dioxide was proposed for degradation of furfural. The rate of furfural decomposition in the proposed system was more than that of the system without TiO2 foils due to the degradable reactions. The experimental results demonstrate that the maximum degradation occurs at a distinct pH and specific temperature under the UV irradiation. After 100-minute UV-irradiation duration, the maximum and minimum degradations were 97.8% (pH 3), and 95.8% (pH 12), respectively. Also, the degradation values were as parabolic function at the pH values. The values of efficiency of decomposition for this irradiation duration at optimum pH 3 were 96.7% and 98.5% at 30◦C and 40◦C, respectively. Also, the minimum degradation under photolysis was 93.52% at 30oC under 20-minute UV-irradiation duration. Furthermore, while the irradiation duration was 70-75 min, the degradation values were independent of pH approximately. The difference between the degradation values at 30 and 40◦C was decreased with increasing the UV-irradiation duration till 60min, and then this difference was increased with increasing the UV-irradiation duration.