Photocatalytic degradation of furfural by titania nanoparticles in a floating-bed photoreactor

In this research, an attempt was made to investigate the potential of nanophotocatalysts for treatment of hazardous wastewater streams. Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (as photocatalyst) were immobilized on a porous and low-density support called "perlite" using a very simple and inexpensive method. TiO2-coated perlite granules were used in a "Floating-bed photoreactor" to study the photocatalytic purification process of a typical wastewater polluted by furfural. The effects of initial concentration, catalyst mass/solution volume ratio, oxidant molar flow, residence time, and light intensity on process removal efficiency, and kinetics of the reactions were studied. SEM analyses showed a properly uniform distribution of titanium dioxide nanoparticles on perlite granules. HPLC analyses of the photocatalytic treatment experiments of water streams synthetically Polluted with furfural showed a fairly good performance for the immobilized catalyst. A furfural concentration reduction of more than 95% was observed within 120min. Kinetics of the reaction, strongly depends on pollutant concentration in the solution and mass diffusion phenomenon seems to be the controlling step. Crown Copyright (c) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.