ABSTRACT

C o n v en tio n a l m e th o d s fo r d isp o sa l o f o rg an ic p o llu tan ts in aq u eo u s p h ase in v o lv e a ir s tr ip p in g an d filtra tio n , c rea tin g la rge am o u n ts o f co n tam in a ted m a te ria l w h ich m u st be fu rth e r trea ted . O n th e o th e r h an d , so m e d es tru c tiv e tech n iq u es , e.g ., ch lo rin a tio n , u se s tro n g o x id an ts th a t are h aza rd o u s . In the p h o to ca ta ly tic p ro cess , o rg an ic co n tam in an ts m ay be fu lly o x id iz ed on a sem ico n d u c to r su rface (e.g ., T 1O 2 ) to re la tiv e ly in n o cu o u s en d p ro d u c ts such as C O 2 , w ater, an d in o rg an ic ac ids. E ffic ien t (i.e ., co m p le te an d fast) m in e ra liza tio n o f o rg an ic co n tam in an ts in th e liq u id p h ase d ep en d s o n several fac to rs , such as rea c to r d es ig n , f lo w rate , re ten tio n tim e, illu m in a tio n , p h o to ca ta ly tic m a te ria l, an d o x id a n t so lu b ility an d red o x p o ten tia l. Several fac to rs seem to d e te rm in e a goo d p h o to ca ta ly tic m ateria l: crysta l s tru c tu re (i.e ., an a ta se T 1O 2 ), h ig h su rface area , p resen ce o f a su itab le m eta l, an d ad eq u ate su p p o rt m ateria l. D iffe ren t fo rm u la tio n s fo r th e sy n th esis o f a su itab le p h o to ca ta ly tic m a te ria l hav e b een tested . T h ese m ate ria ls h av e been in co rp o ra ted in to d iffe ren t types o f reac to r d es ig n s and th e ir e ffec tiv en ess in the m in e ra liza tio n o f o rg an ic co m p o u n d s in liq u id p h ase has b een ev a lu a ted . T he effec t o f th e p e rfo rm an ce o f the p h o to reac to rs in th e p resen ce o f in o rg an ic ions w as a lso eva lu a ted .