Influence of Operating Parameters on Photocatalytic Oxidation of 2,4-Dichlorofenol in Aqueous Solution by TiO₂/Stainless Steel Photocatalytic Membrane

Abstract

The influence of some operating parameters of an UV photocatalytic reactor with TiO2/stainless steel photocatalytic membrane on the photocatalytic oxidation of 2,4-dichlorophenol from aqueous solutions was studied in this paper. It was shown that the pH of the working solution substantially influences the photocatalytic degradation of the organic substrate, with the degradation efficiency increasing with decreasing the pH of the working solution by a maximum corresponding to pH 3. The rate constant of the photocatalytic oxidation process is about twice as high at pH 3 comparative with pH 7 for the same initial concentration of the organic substrate. The molar ratio of hydrogen peroxide/organic substrate also influences the photocatalytic oxidation process of the organic substrate. The results obtained in this paper highlight the fact that a stoichiometric molar ratio is favorable for the photocatalytic degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenol. It has also been shown that the initial concentration of the organic substrate influences the rate of photocatalytic degradation. It appears that the rate of photocatalytic degradation decreases with the increasing of initial concentration of 2,4-dichlorophenol.

Keywords

• photocatalytic oxidation
• chlorophenols
• photocatalytic membrane
• titanium dioxide