• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.597-604
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• 2020

In the present study, the application of sequential biological and photocatalytic process was evaluated as a feasible process for the degradation of imidacloprid (IMI) in soil. Photocatalysis was carried out as a post and pre-treatment to the biological process as Microbial Photocatalytic (MP) and Photocatalytic Microbial (PM), respectively, to enhance the degradation and mineralization of IMI in soil. By both the processes, there was an enhancement in the percentage degradation of IMI i.e 86.2% for PM and 94.6% for MP process. The obtained results indicate that MP process is apparently more efficient in degradation of IMI which was observed with 15 days of biological treatment followed by 18 h of photocatalytic degradation (15 d + 18 h). The present work also reveals that though the difference in terms of the degradation of IMI after 5 d + 18 h, 10 d + 18 h & 15 d+ 18 h of MP process is not drastic, yet significant variation has been observed in terms of mineralization that truly signifies the removal of IMI from the soil. The LC analysis has shown that the intermediates formed during MP process are more and smaller in comparison to PM process, which further provides evidence that MP process is better than PM process for effective degradation of IMI in soil.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.1255-1260
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• 2003

Plasma-photocatalytic oxidation process was applied in the decomposition of Triethylamine(TEA) and Methyl ethyl ketone(MEK). Plasma reactor was made entirely of pyrex glass and consists of 24mm inner diameter, 1,800mm length and discharge electrode of 0.4mm stainless steel. And initial concentrations of TEA and MEK for plasma-photocatalytic oxidation are 100 ppm. Odor gas samples were taken by gas-tight syringe from a glass sampling bulb which was located at reactor inlet and outlet, and TEA and MEK were determined by GC-FID. For plasma process, the decomposition efficiency of TEA and MEK were evaluated by varying different flowrates and decomposition efficiency of TEA and MEK increased considerably with decreasing treatment flowrates. For photocatalytic oxidation process, also the decomposition efficiency of TEA and MEK increased considerably with decreasing treatment flowrates. The decomposition efficiency of MEK was 57.8％, 34.2％, 18.8％ respectively and the decomposition efficiency of TEA was reached all 100％. This result is higher than that of plasma process only, From this study, the results indicate that plasma-photocatalytic oxidation process is ideal for treatment of TEA and MEK.

• Clean Technology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.206-211
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• 2018

Lead molybdate ($PbMoO_4$) were successfully synthesized using a facile surfactant-assisted hydrothermal process and characterized by XRD, Raman, PL, BET and DRS. We also investigated the photocatalytic activity of these materials for the decomposition of Rhodamine B under UV-light irradiation. From XRD and Raman results, well-crystallized $PbMoO_4$ crystals have been successfully synthesized with a facile surfactant-assisted hydrothermal process and had 52-69 nm particle size. The $PbMoO_4$ catalysts prepared at $160^{\circ}C$ showed the highest photocatalytic activity. The PL peak was appeared at about 540 nm at all catalysts and it was also shown that the excitonic PL signal was proportional to the photocatalytic activity for the decomposition of Rhodamine B.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.123-128
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• 2003

$TiO_2$ nanopowder was synthesized by chemical vapor condensation (CVC) process and its photocatalytic property depending on microstructure was considered in terns of decomposition rate of organic compound. In order to control microstructure of $TiO_2$ nanopowder such as particle size and degree of agglomeration, precursor flow rate representing number concentration was changed as a process variable. In TEM observation, spherical $TiO_2$ nanoparticles with average size of 20 nm showed gradual increases in particle size and degree of agglomeration with increase of precursor flow rate. Also decomposition rate of organic compound increased with decreasing precursor flow rate. Thus, it was concluded that photocatalytic property was enhanced by targe surface area of disperse $TiO_2$ nanoparticles synthesized at lower precursor flow rate condition in CVC process.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.244-253
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• 2007

This research investigated the effect of a photocatalytic reaction on nanofiltration(NF) membrane fouling by natural organic matter(NOM). The photocatalytic degradation was very effective for destruction and transformation of NOM and was carried out by titanium dioxide($TiO_2$) and $TiO_2$-immobilized bead as a photocatalyst. In order to compare their phtocatalytic properties, the photocatalytic degradation of humic acid in the presence of calcium ion was used as a model reaction. After the photocatalytic degradation the membrane fouling was dramatically decreased.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.73-78
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• 2016

$TiO_2$ nanoparticles were synthesized by a sol-gel process using titanium tetra isopropoxide as a precursor at room temperature. Ag-doped $TiO_2$ nanoparticles were prepared by photoreduction of $AgNO_3$ on $TiO_2$ under UV light irradiation and calcinated at $400^{\circ}C$. Ag-doped $TiO_2$ nanoparticles were characterized for their structural and morphological properties by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The photocatalytic properties of the $TiO_2$ and Ag-doped $TiO_2$ nanoparticles were evaluated according to the degree of photocatalytic degradation of gaseous benzene under UV and visible light irradiation. To estimate the rate of photolysis under UV (${\lambda}=365nm$) and visible (${\lambda}{\geq}410nm$) light, the residual concentration of benzene was monitored by gas chromatography (GC). Both undoped/doped nanoparticles showed about 80 % of photolysis of benzene under UV light. However, under visible light irradiation Ag-doped $TiO_2$ nanoparticles exhibited a photocatalytic reaction toward the photodegradation of benzene more efficient than that of bare $TiO_2$. The enhanced photocatalytic reaction of Ag-doped $TiO_2$ nanoparticles is attributed to the decrease in the activation energy and to the existence of Ag in the $TiO_2$ host lattice, which increases the absorption capacity in the visible region by acting as an electron trapper and promotes charge separation of the photoinduced electrons ($e^-$) and holes ($h^+$). The use of Ag-doped $TiO_2$ nanoparticles preserved the option of an environmentally benign photocatalytic reaction using visible light; These particles can be applicable to environmental cleaning applications.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2007

It prepared the $TiO_2$ powder which has photo-catalytic activity in the visible-light by the wet process with titanium oxysulfate. The titanium $dioxide(TiO_2)$ by the wet process creates a new absorption band in the visible light region, and is expected to create photocatalytic activity in this region. Anatase $TiO_2$ powder which has photocatalytic activity in the visible light region, is treated using microwave and radio-frequency(RF) plasma. But, the $TiO_2$ powder for the visible light region, which also can be easily produced by wet process. The wet process $TiO_2$ absorbed visible light between 400nm and 600nm, and showed a high activity in this region, as measured by the oxidation removal of aceton from the gas phase. The AH-380 sample appears the yellow color to be strong, the catalytic activity in the visible ray was excellent in comparison with the plasma-treated $TiO_2$. The AH-380 $TiO_2$ powder, which can be easily produced on a large scale, is expected to have higher efficiency in utilizing solar energy than the plasma-treated $TiO_2$ powder.

• Clean Technology
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.178-183
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• 2015

Lead molybdate (PbMoO₄) oxides were successfully synthesized using a conventional hydrothermal method and a microwave-assisted hydrothermal method. They were characterized by XRD, DRS, BET, Raman, SEM and PL. We also investigated the photocatalytic activity of these materials for the decomposition of Rhodamine B under UV-light irradiation. From XRD and Raman results, well-crystallized PbMoO₄ crystals have been successfully synthesized regardless of preparation method and had 42~59 nm particle size. The PbMoO₄ catalysts prepared using microwave-assisted process had the similar particle size and enhanced the photocatalytic activity when compared to that prepared by hydrothermal method. The PbMoO₄ catalysts prepared under the irradiation of microwave for 75 min showed the highest photocatalytic activity. The PL peaks appears at about 530 nm at all catalysts and it was also shown that the excitonic PL signal is proportional to the photocatalytic activity for the decomposition of Rhodamine B.

• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.291-296
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• 2021

Recently, there has been increasing demand for advancing photocatalytic techniques that are capable of the efficient removal of organic pollutants in water. TiO₂, a representative photocatalytic material, has been commonly used as an effective photocatalyst, but it is rather expensive and an alternative is required that will fulfill the requirements of both high performing photocatalytic activities and cost-effectiveness. In this work, ZnO, which is more cost effective than TiO₂, was synthesized by using a microreactor-assisted nanomaterials (MAN) process. The process enabled a continuous production of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) with a flower-like structure with high uniformity. In order to resolve the limited light absorption of ZnO arising from its large band gap, Ag NPs were uniformly decorated on the flower-like ZnO surface by using the MAN process. The plasmonic effect of Ag NPs led to a broadening of the absorption range toward visible wavelengths. Ag NPs also helped inhibit the electron-hole recombination by drawing electrons generated from the light absorption of the flower-like ZnO NPs. As a result, the Ag-ZnO nanocomposites showed improved photocatalytic activities compared with the flower-like ZnO NPs. The photocatalytic activities were evaluated through the degradation of methylene blue (MB) solution. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) confirmed the successful synthesis of Ag-ZnO nanocomposites with high uniformity. Ag-ZnO nanocomposites synthesized via the MAN process offer the potential for cost-effective and scalable production of next-generation photocatalytic materials.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.185-197
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• 2019

Deactivation of porous photocatalytic materials was studied using three types of microstructured particles: macroporous titania particles, titania microspheres, and porous silica microspheres containing CNTs and $TiO_2$ nanoparticles. All particles were synthesized by emulsion-assisted self-assembly using micron-sized droplets as micro-reactors. During repeated cycles of the photocatalytic decomposition reaction, the non-dimensionalized initial rate constants (a) were estimated as a function of UV irradiation time (t) from experimental kinetics data, and the results were plotted for a regression according to the exponentially decaying equation, $a=a_0\;{\exp}(-k_dt)$. The retardation constant ($k_d$) was then compared for macroporous titania microparticles with different pore diameters to examine the effect of pore size on photocatalytic deactivation. Nonporous or larger macropores resulted in smaller values of the deactivation constant, indicating that the adsorption of organic materials during the photocatalytic decomposition reaction hinders the generation of active radicals from the titania surface. A similar approach was adopted to evaluate the activation constant of porous silica particles containing CNT and $TiO_2$ nanoparticles to compare the deactivation during recycling of the photocatalyst. As the amount of CNTs increased, the deactivation constant decreased, indicating that the conductive CNTs enhanced the generation of active radicals in the aqueous medium during photocatalytic oxidation.