Facile fabrication of hybrid titanium(IV) isopropoxide/pozzolan nanosheets (TnS-Pz) of high photocatalytic activity: characterization and application for Cr(VI) reduction in an aqueous solution.

This paper presents the synthesis of a hybrid material through the use of natural pozzolan and titanium(IV) isopropoxide using the sol-gel method and its application in the photocatalytic hexavalent chromium reduction. The characterization data indicated a mesoporous material possessing a surface area of 271.7 m2 g-1. The morphology studies (SEM and TEM) showed nanosheet hybrid structures. The analysis of DRUV, FTIR, XRD, and Mössbauer spectroscopy provides a different electronic structure of the synthetized material when compared with the originals, proving the hybridization process between pozzolan and titanium(IV) isopropoxide. The photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III) using the hybrid material showed a better performance than conventional photocatalysts (precursor and TiO2-P25). Operational conditions such as chromium initial concentration (0.02-0.20 mM), solution pH (3-6), and type of scavenger (citric or tartaric acid) were evaluated in order to determine the best experimental conditions for the Cr(VI) photoreduction. At their optimum (catalyst load of 15 mg L-1, tartaric acid as scavenger, [scavenger]0/[Cr(VI)]0 M ratio = 3:1, pH 3, and 25 °C), the total photoreduction of 0.20 mM Cr(VI) was achieved in 180 min. The novel hybrid materials synthesized from pozzolan and titanium(IV) isopropoxide showed to be a potential catalyst for the Cr(VI) reduction in aqueous solution. Graphical abstract.

Biodegradation kinetics of benzene, toluene and xylene compounds: microbial growth and evaluation of models.

The biodegradation kinetics of BTX compounds (benzene, toluene, and xylene) individually and as mixtures was studied using models with different levels of sophistication. To compare the performance of the unstructured models applied in this work we used experimental data obtained here and some results published in the literature. The system description was based on the material balances of key components for batch operations, where the Monod and Andrews models were applied to predict the biodegradation of individual substrates. To simulate the biodegradation kinetics of substrate mixtures, models of substrate inhibition were applied along with the Sum Kinetics with Interaction Parameters (SKIP) models, where for two-component association toluene-xylene SKIP model presented better performance and for tri-component association benzene-toluene-xylene, the uncompetitive inhibition model was better. The kinetic parameters were estimated via a global search method known as Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). The main result of this study is that the sophisticated biodegradation kinetics of BTX mixtures can be successfully described by applying the SKIP model, with the main advantage being the consideration of the substrate interactions.