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Removal of Refractory Contaminants Wastewater Using Biological Treatment Followed by Photocatalytic


Eman A. Emam[1], S.-U. Geissen[2] ,A. Vogelpohl[3]

Page no. 11-21


Abstract

Biological treatment is considered environment-friendly and relatively cheap, but the complete
removal of different contaminants is questionable. Photocatalytic process is widely used for the
removal of refractory non-biodegradable compounds from industrial and municipal wastewater.
Photocatalytic process has been investigated to purification of the refractory contaminants real
wastewater after two steps of an aerobic biological treatment. The activities of three commercial
types of titanium dioxide (TiO2) photocatalysts (Degussa P25, Hombikat UV-100 and Millennium
PC 50) were studied. In addition, TiO2-concentration was investigated using an aerated
photoreactor which was modified for batch experiments. After biological treatment the total
organic carbon (TOC) degraded from 28 to 11 mg/L. The remaining of the hydrocarbon content
was found 4.6 mg/L. Additionally, the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) to chemical oxygen
demand (COD) ratio less than 0.02, the biological treatment was assumed to be complete. The
results of photocatalytic treatment showed that, the TOC in the wastewater is able to remove with
different photocatalysts, but at different reaction rates. Degussa P25 was more active than UV-100
and PC 50 photocatalysts with TOC degradation reached 83%. The degradation rate of TOC was
increased with increasing P25 photocatalyst concentration up to 5 g/L. The degradation rate of the
TOC in the wastewater was found to be pseudo first order and the maximum rate was achieved with
P25. Reduction of 88 % of hydrocarbon content was achieved by P25.
Keywords: aerobic biological, photocatalytic degradation, titanium dioxide, gas-station
wastewater, hydrocarbon content


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