Photocatalytic removal of phenol from refinery wastewater: Catalytic activity of Cu-doped titanium dioxide

Photocatalytic removal of phenol from refinery wastewater: Catalytic activity of Cu-doped titanium dioxide

Type	Journal Article
Author	Ala’a H. Al-Muhtaseb
Author	Majeda Khraisheh
URL	http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214714415300416
Volume	8
Pages	82-90
Publication	Journal of Water Process Engineering
Date	December 2015
Abstract	Describes fabrication of a series of Cu-doped TiO2 catalysts using a sol–gel method and the effect of various synthesis parameters, including solvent type; solvent/catalyst amount; amount of water; catalyst type/amount; and acid type, on removal of phenol from refinery wastewater under UV-irradiation. Among the three solvents used, ethanol (En); isopropanol (Iso) and 2(2-Ethoxyethoxy) ethanol (Exy); undoped-TiO2 catalysts prepared with ethanol (En) solvent showed the highest phenol degradation rate even though the surface area of isopropanol is 6 times higher than ethanol. However, for Cu-doped TiO2 catalysts, isopropanol showed the highest photodegradation rate of phenol. Increasing the amount of water increased the surface area of the catalyst accordingly but no clear trend between phenol degradation rate and the amount of water used was observed. In contrast to NaOH, the addition of HCl improved the photodegradation rate of phenol while H2SO4 was twice as effective with respect to the phenol degradation.