Kinetic Model of the Photocatalytic Degradation of the Pharmaceutical Clofibric Acid

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

Simposio; 8th European Meeting on Solar Chemistry and Photocatalysis: Environmental Applications-SPEA8; 2014

A kinetic model of the photocatalytic degradation of an endocrine disrupting compound, the pharmaceutical clofibric acid (CA), is presented. Experiments were carried out in a slurry reactor under UV radiation and employing TiO2 as catalyst. The main reaction intermediates were identified and quantified. Reaction rate expressions to represent the degradation of CA and the main intermediates were derived. The radiation field in the reactor was computed by the Monte Carlo method. Kinetic parameters were estimated from the experiments by applying a non-linear regression procedure. Good agreement was obtained between model predictions and experimental data. The root mean square error considering the CA concentration was 5.9%.