The photocatalytic, sonolytic and sonophotocatalytic degradation of 4-chloro-2-nitrophenol (4C2NP) using heterogeneous (TiO2) was investigated in this study. Experiments were performed in slurry mode with artificial UV 125 watt medium pressure mercury lamp coupled with ultrasound (100 W, 33+3 KHz) for sonication of the slurry. The degradation of compound was studied in terms of first order kinetics. The catalyst concentration was optimized at 1.5 gL-1, pH at 7 and oxidant concentration at 1.5 gL-1. The results obtained were quite appreciable as 80% degradation was obtained for photocatalytic treatment in 120 minutes whereas, ultrasound imparting synergistic effect as degradation achieved 96% increase in 90 minutes during sonophotocatalysis. The degradation follows the trend sonophotocatalysis > photocatalysis > sonocatalytic > sonolysis. The results of sonophotocatalytic degradation of pharmaceutical compound showed that it could be used as efficient and environmentally friendly technique for the complete degradation of recalcitrant organic pollutants which will increase the chances for the reuse of wastewater.
Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is an attractive photocatalyst, however, its practical photocatalytic applications are still faced with huge challenges. The aim of this research is to identify the correlation between synthetic conditions and properties of the g-C3N4 and derive an optimum synthesis condition for improving photocatalytic activities of the g-C3N4. In this study, novel and versatile g-C3N4 nanosheets were synthesized by the simple thermal pyrolysis of urea. In the synthesis process, the pyrolysis temperature and the heating rate, which can have the most significant influence on the structures and properties of g-C3N4, were set as variables, and the effects were systematically investigated. When synthesized at a relatively high temperature, the amount of material being synthesized is reduced, however it has been found to represent optical properties suitable for highly efficient photocatalyst by the increase in the thickness and defects formed in the g-C3N4 nanosheets. The photocatalytic degradation experiment of MB dyes indicated that the highest degradation of 95.2% after the reaction for 120 min was achieved on the g-C3N4 nanosheets synthesized at 650oC.
In this work, a design equation was presented for a batch-recirculated photoreactor composed of a packed bed reactor (PBR) with immobilised TiO2-P25 nanoparticle thin films on glass beads, and a continuous-flow stirred tank (CFST). The photoreactor was studied in order to remove C.I. Acid Orange 7 (AO7), a monoazo anionic dye from textile industry, by means of UV/TiO2 process. The effect of different operational parameters such as the initial concentration of contaminant, the volume of solution in CFST, the volumetric flow rate of liquid, and the power of light source in the removal efficiency were examined. A rate equation for the removal of AO7 is obtained by mathematical kinetic modelling. The results of reaction kinetic analysis indicate the conformity of removal kinetics with Langmuir-Hinshelwood model (kL-H = 0.74 mg L-1 min-1, Kads = 0.081 mg-1 L). The represented design equation obtained from mathematical kinetic modelling can properly predict the removal rate constant of the contaminant under different operational conditions (R2 = 0.963). Thus the calculated and experimental results are in good agreement with each other.