Photocatalytic degradation of 17--ethynylestradiol using cerium doped TiO2 films

ALFANO, ORLANDO M.; SATUF, MARÍA L.; MARTIN, MARCELA V.

Medellin (Guatapé)

Conferencia; 3rd Iberoamerican Conference on Advanced Oxidation Technologies (III CIPOA) and 2nd Colombian Conference on Advanced Oxidation Processes (II CCPAOX); 2017

Universidad de Antioquia, Universidad del Valle, Universidad de la Amazonia

The photocatalytic activity of different TiO2 coatings for the degradation of 17-a-ethinylestradiol (EE2) in aqueous solution was compared using a micro-reactor. Pure and cerium-doped TiO2 coatings, prepared by the sol-gel method, were tested under simulated sunlight. The influence of different variables on the photocatalytic oxidation of EE2 was investigated: the number of coatings, the Ce loading, the initial pH and the flow rate in the micro-reactor. The highest percentage of degradation of EE2 was obtained with 3 coatings of the catalyst with 0.3 Ce nominal atomic % at pH 8 and at a flow rate of 17 uL/min. In addition, the use of the micro-reactor allows the study of different operating conditions in a simple and fast way, and with minimum consumption of reagents.