Photocatalytic Degradation of Bisphenol A Using Different Titania Catalysts

MANASSERO, A.; SATUF, M. L.; ALFANO, O. M.

Rio de Janeiro

Encuentro; VI Encuentro sobre Aplicaciones Ambientales de Procesos Avanzados de Oxidación; 2011

Universidad Federal de Río de Janeiro

In recent years, the pollution of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in water sources and factory effluents has aroused the public concern. Among numerous EDCs used in industrial processes, bisphenol A (BPA) is one of the most important compounds. Photocatalysis has been found to be effective for the degradation of EDCs in wastewater. In this work, different catalysts containing TiO2 were evaluated: the commercial catalysts TiO2 Degussa P25, Kronos vlp 7000 and a TiO2 loaded Cr-MCM-41. The last two catalysts are active under UV and visible radiation while the first one is only active under UV radiation. In order to compare their performance, the apparent quantum efficiency, çapp, was calculated. This parameter relates the number of molecules of reactant degraded to the number of incident photons during a defined period of time, over a defined spectral range. The photodegradation of BPA was carried out in a batch photoreactor with recycle, employing 0.5 g/L of each catalyst. The highest conversion of BPA was obtained when TiO2 Degussa was used and when the reactor was irradiated with UV radiation. Kronos vlp 7000 was the catalyst that showed the highest activity in the visible region. Besides, TiO2/Cr-MCM-41 showed the lowest activity under both UV and visible radiation.