A review on UV/TiO2 photocatalytic oxidation process

Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) with UV irradiation and photocatalyst titanium dioxide (TiO2) are gaining growing acceptance as an effective wastewater treatment method. A comprehensive review of the UV-TiO2 photocatalytic oxidation process was conducted with an insight into the mechanism involved, catalyst TiO2, irradiation sources, types of reactors, comparison between effective modes of TiO2 application as immobilized on surface or as suspension, and photocatalytic hybrid membrane system. Photocatalytic degradation technique with titanium dioxide is generally applied for treating wastewater containing organic contaminants due to its ability to achieve complete mineralization of the organic contaminants under mild conditions such as ambient temperature and ambient pressure. Recently, photocatalysis studies using TiO2 have been gaining attention for the degradation of persistent organic pollutants and other organic chemicals which are known to be endocrine disruptors. Treatment of wastewater in a titanium dioxide-suspended slurry reactor has been widely utilized due to its simplicity and enhanced degradation efficiency. However, this system requires separation of TiO2 from water after the photocatalytic process. The final section of the manuscript focuses on the removal of TiO2 using a membrane hybrid system. A two-stage coagulation and sedimentation process coupled with microfiltration hollow-fibre membrane process was found to achieve complete removal of TiO2, and the recovered TiO2 can be reused for a photocatalytic process after regeneration.