Photocatalytic degradation of phenol in water solutions using zno nanoparticles immobilized on glass

Phenol and its derivatives are pollutant compounds that are present in the wastewater of many industries. The objective of this study was to investigate the photocatalytic degradation of phenol in water containing various concentrations of sodium chloride. A laboratory study was conducted to evaluat...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sedigheh Saeedi, Hatam Godini, Mohammad Almasian, Ghodratollah Shams-Khorramabadi, Bahram Kamarehie, Parvin Mostafaie, Fatemeh Taheri
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences 2015-08-01
Series:Journal of Advances in Environmental Health Research
Subjects:
Online Access:http://jaehr.muk.ac.ir/article_40204_8a9916d8a3d4b18b7f1722567fdf45c7.pdf
Description
Summary:Phenol and its derivatives are pollutant compounds that are present in the wastewater of many industries. The objective of this study was to investigate the photocatalytic degradation of phenol in water containing various concentrations of sodium chloride. A laboratory study was conducted to evaluate the performance of UV/ZnO process on the efficiency of phenol removal from saline water with ZnO nanoparticles fixed on glass using UVC radiation. The effects of pH, contact time, sodium chloride concentrations, and the initial concentration of phenol on the photocatalytic removal of phenol were studied. The photocatalytic degradation of phenol showed suitable efficiency under the absence of sodium chloride (100% phenol removal at a concentration of 5 mg/l and during 120 minutes). However, the removal efficiency decreased in the presence of a concentration of 30 g/l of sodium chloride (92.4%). Additionally, phenol photocatalytic degradation efficiency decreased as a result of an increase in the initial concentration of phenol and the efficiency increased as a result of a decrease in pH (pH = 3). The results obtained from this study indicated that ZnO nanoparticles or ultraviolet rays alone cannot remove phenol fully and have a much lower efficiency in comparison with the photocatalytic degradation of phenol. Thus, the photocatalytic degradation process (UV/ZnO) is an effective method of removing phenol from saline water solutions.
ISSN:2345-3990
2345-3990