Degradation of 2-chlorophenol with different radiation sources, using modified mesoporous titania.

OCHOA RODRÍGUEZ, PABLO A.; VASCHETTO, ELIANA G.; EIMER, GRISELDA A.; ELÍAS, VERÓNICA R.

Congreso; WCCE 11 - 11th World Congress of Chemical Engineering; 2023

The problem of contaminated water with persistent and refractory organic substances demands responses and the implementation of specific technologies. One of the promising alternatives is the Advanced Oxidation Processes group. Particularly, in this work photocatalysis processes were performed, since it only involves the use of a solid semiconductor and radiation of certain energy. In order to propose environmentally friendly procedures, visible radiation from high-power LED modules was used to activate a titania material calcined at 150 °C and co-doped with iron and carbon. It was found that after five hours of reaction, the substance 2-chlorophenol, a model pollutant present in effluents from the plastics or oil industry, was degraded by almost 100% and some reaction intermediates would also be destroyed or converted to carbon dioxide and water. At the same time, and only for comparative purposes in terms of rate reaction, the same reaction was performed using conventional mercury lamps, which emit UV radiation. As expected, a practically complete degradation of the substance was also achieved.Finally, it was found that the tested catalyst is effective in treating refractory contaminants, even with lower energy radiation (visible). This can be attributed to the synergistic and photosensitizing effect of the presence of both carbon and iron in specific sites of the network, which improves the absorption of the solid and reduces its band gap. The behavior observed would allow the design of reaction systems that are more eco-compatible with the environment, tending to use only solar radiation.