Photocatalysis process to treat polluted water by azo dye Cibacron Brilliant Yellow 3G-P.

The main objective of this study was to investigate the photodegradation of azo dye Cibacron Brilliant Yellow 3G-P using Anatase, Degussa-P25 and ZnO. These semi-conductors were characterized using XRD, BET and TEM-EDX. The variation of the amount of semi-conductors significantly affect the rate of color removal. The decolorization rate increased as the catalyst dosage was increased. Other parameters were also studied, such as stirring speed, pH, and initial dye concentration. It was found that the rate of decolorization increases with the increase of stirring speed. Decolorization of about 30, 60 and 80% was respectively achieved in the case of Anatase, Degussa-P25 and ZnO at low stirring speed (50rpm). At pH = 3, the degradation rate was found to be higher than the alkaline pH, about 95.58 and 85.71% of color has been decolorized with Anatase and Degussa-P25 respectively. While using ZnO, the color removal reached maximum in acidic and alkaline solutions, more than 95% of dye was decolorized. The concentrations dye solutions less than 80ppm led to the removal rate of about 95% in the case of ZnO, while it was only about 8-15% in the case of TiO2 with the concentration more than 20 ppm.

Photocatalytic degradation efficiency of hazardous macrolide compounds using an external UV-light irradiation slurry reactor.

The current work investigates the removal of two hazardous macrolide molecules, spiramycin and tylosin, by photodegradation under external UV-light irradiation conditions in a slurry photoreactor using titanium dioxide as a catalyst. The kinetics of degradation and effects of main process parameters such as catalyst dosage, initial macrolide concentration, light intensity and stirring rate on the degradation rate of pollutants have been examined in detail in order to obtain the optimum operational conditions. It was found that the process followed a pseudo first-order kinetics according to the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model. The optimum conditions for the degradation of spiramycin and tylosin were low compound concentration, 1 g L-1 of catalyst dosage, 100 W m-2 light intensity and 560 rpm stirring rate. Then, a maximum removal (more than 90%) was obtained after 300 min of irradiation time. Furthermore, results show that the selection of optimized operational parameters leads to satisfactory total organic carbon removal rate (up to 51%) and biochemical oxygen demand to chemical oxygen demand ratio (∼1) confirming the good potential of this technique to remove complex macrolides from aqueous solutions.

Effect and interaction study of acetamiprid photodegradation using experimental design.

The methodology of experimental research was carried out using the MODDE 6.0 software to study the acetamiprid photodegradation depending on the operating parameters, such as the initial concentration of acetamiprid, concentration and type of the used catalyst and the initial pH of the medium. The results showed the importance of the pollutant concentration effect on the acetamiprid degradation rate. On the other hand, the amount and type of the used catalyst have a considerable influence on the elimination kinetics of this pollutant. The degradation of acetamiprid as an environmental pesticide pollutant via UV irradiation in the presence of titanium dioxide was assessed and optimized using response surface methodology with a D-optimal design. The acetamiprid degradation ratio was found to be sensitive to the different studied factors. The maximum value of discoloration under the optimum operating conditions was determined to be 99% after 300 min of UV irradiation.

Macrolide antibiotics removal using a circulating TiO2-coated paper photoreactor: parametric study and hydrodynamic flow characterization.

The present work investigates the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of biorecalcitrant macrolide antibiotics in a circulating tubular photoreactor. As target pollutants, spiramycin (SPM) and tylosin (TYL) were considered in this study. The photoreactor leads to the use of an immobilized titanium dioxide on non-woven paper under artificial UV-lamp irradiation. Maximum removal efficiency was achieved at the optimum conditions of natural pH, low pollutant concentration and a 0.35 L min(-1) flow rate. A Langmuir-Hinshelwood model was used to fit experimental results and the model constants were determined. Moreover, the total organic carbon analysis reveals that SPM and TYL mineralization is not complete. In addition, the study of the residence time distribution allowed us to investigate the flow regime of the reactor. Electrical energy consumption for photocatalytic degradation of macrolides using circulating TiO2-coated paper photoreactor was lower compared with some reported photoreactors used for the elimination of pharmaceutic compounds. A repetitive reuse of the immobilized catalyst was also studied in order to check its photoactivity performance.

Anaerobic digestion of wastewater from the fruit juice industry: experiments and modeling.

Anaerobic digestion of wastewater from the fruit juice industry was carried out in a batch digester. To study the effect of the pH values as well as the nutrient medium on the fermentation process, different parameters were monitored under mesophilic temperature, such as cumulative biogas volume, chemical oxygen demand (COD), total sugar, and biomass growth. It was found that for all cases, the COD concentration decreased with time. The lowest value reached was obtained when the nutrient medium was added; it was about 110 g/L after 480 h. In such cases, the COD removal reached about 80%; the highest cumulative biogas volume of about 5,515.8 NmL was reached after 480 h testing; and the lowest value reached was about 2,862.3 NmL in the case of peach-substrate containing sodium sulfite. The addition of nutrient medium improved the cumulative biogas production as well as the COD abatement. Measurement of the biogas composition highlighted three gaseous components, namely, methane (56.52%), carbon dioxide (20.14%), and hydrogen sulfide (23.34%). The modified Gompertz equation and the first-order kinetic model were used to describe the cumulative biogas production and the organic matter removal, respectively. A good agreement was found between simulated and experimental data.

Surfactant remediation of diesel fuel polluted soil.

Soil contamination with petroleum hydrocarbons has caused critical environmental and health defects and increasing attention has been paid for developing innovative technology for cleaning up this contamination. In this work, the washing process of a soil column by ionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was investigated. Water flow rate and the contamination duration (age) have been studied. The performance of water in the removal of diesel fuel was found to be non-negligible, while water contributed by 24.7% in the global elimination of n-alkanes. The effect of SDS is significant beyond a concentration of 8mM. After 4h of treatment with surfactant solution, the diesel soil content remains constant, which shows the existence of a necessary contact time needed to the surfactant to be efficient. The soil washing process at a rate of 3.2 mL/min has removed 97% of the diesel fuel. This surfactant soil remediation process was shown to be governed by the first-order kinetics. These results are of practical interest in developing effective surfactant remediation technology of diesel fuel contaminated soils.