Magdalena Janus

Decomposition of 3-chlorophenol on nitrogen modified TiO2 photocatalysts.

Photocatalytic activity of nitrogen modified TiO(2) calcined at temperatures of 100-350°C toward 3-chlorophenol (3-CP) degradation was studied. In the experiments the fluorescent UV lamp and the incandescent lamp emitting mainly Vis light were applied. The degradation efficiency was evaluated on a basis of changes of 3-CP, total organic carbon and Cl(-) concentration. A significant improvement of the photoactivity of the N-modified photocatalysts compared to the reference sample was observed. The rate of 3-CP degradation increased with the calcination temperature, and the highest efficiency was achieved for TiO(2) annealed at 350°C. After 5h of UV irradiation in the presence of TiO(2)/N-350 and reference TiO(2) the 3-CP concentration decreased for 77% and 36%, respectively. The 3-CP removal after 24h of Vis irradiation was 30% and 12% for the N-modified and reference samples, respectively. The 3-CP decomposition and mineralization were greatly influenced by pH of the solution, achieving the highest rate at pH 7 for the modified photocatalysts. An increase of the calcination temperature resulted in an increase of the rate of OH formation. The photocatalytic activity of the N-modified TiO(2) remained unchanged during repeated photocatalytic degradation cycles.

Preliminary studies of photocatalytic activity of gypsum plasters containing TiO2 co-modified with nitrogen and carbon

Abstract The conducted studies were focused on the development of the gypsum material exhibiting self-cleaning properties. To this end, the raw gypsum was mixed with unique TiO2-based photocatalysts, previously modified by nitrogen and/ or carbon doping. The photocatalytic activity of the obtained gypsum plasters was evaluated trough the degradation of model organic compound (Reactive Red 198) under UV-vis irradiation. The impact of the photocatalysts presence on the physicochemical properties of the obtained gypsum plasters was evaluated. Furthermore, the role of non-metals presence on the photocatalytic properties of the TiO2 was determined. It was confirmed that the addition of N,C co-modified titanium dioxide into gypsum bestows this material with self-cleaning properties. The highest dye removal rate was displayed by the gypsum plaster containing optimal amount (10 wt%) of co-modified TiO2/N,C photocatalyst, after 20 hours of UV-vis irradiation.

Influence of water temperature on the photocatalytic activity of titanium dioxide

In this study, it was shown that a possible explanation of increasing photocatalytic activity with temperature may be the fact that with increasing water temperature, the amount of hydroxyl radicals in water also increases, because the ionic product of water increases with an increase in temperature. For measurements of the amount of hydroxyl radicals, the fluorescence technique was used. Terephthalic acid was used as a hydroxyl radical scavenger. After inducing of TiO2, positive holes in the valance band may react with OH ions and produce •OH radicals, a strong oxidizing agent.

Preparation, characterization and photocatalytic activity of Co3O4/LiNbO3 composite

AbstractThe Co3O4/LiNbO3 composites were synthesized by impregnation of LiNbO3 in an aqueous solution of cobalt nitrate and next by calcination at 400°C. The activity of produced samples has been investigated in the reaction of photocatalytic hydrogen generation. The crystallographic phases, optical and vibronic properties were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), diffuse reflectance (DR) UV-vis and resonance Raman spectroscopic techniques, respectively. The influence of cobalt content (range from 0.5 wt.% to 4 wt.%) on the photocatalytic activity of Co3O4/LiNbO3 composites for photocatalytic hydrogen generation has been investigated. Co3O4/LiNbO3 composites exhibited higher than LiNbO3 photocatalytic activity for hydrogen generation. The highest H2 evolution efficiency was observed for Co3O4/LiNbO3 composite with 3 wt.% cobalt content. The amount of H2 obtained in the presence of LiNbO3 and Co3O4/LiNbO3 (3 wt.% of cobalt content) was 1.38 µmol/min and 2.59 µmol min−1, respectively.

The application of moving bed bio-reactor (MBBR) in commercial laundry wastewater treatment

Large, laboratory scale biological treatment tests of real industrial wastewater, generated in a large industrial laundry facility, was conducted from October 2014 to January 2015. This research sought to develop laundry wastewater treatment technology which included tests of a two-stage Moving Bed Bio Reactor (MBBR); this had two reactors, was filled with carriers Kaldnes K5 (specific area - 800 m2/m3) and were realized in aerobic condition. Operating on site, in the laundry, reactors were fed actual wastewater from the laundry retention tank. The laundry wastewater contained mainly surfactants and impurities originating from washed fabrics; a solution of urea to supplement nitrogen content and a solution of acid to correct pH were added. The daily flow of raw wastewater Qd varied from 0.6-1.0 m3/d. Wastewater quality indicators showed that the reduction of pollutants was obtained: BOD5 by 95-98%, COD by 89-94%, the sum of anionic and nonionic surfactants by 85-96%. The quality of the purified wastewater after the start-up period met legal requirements regarding the standards for wastewater discharged into the environment.

NOx photocatalytic degradation on gypsum plates modified by TiO2-N,C photocatalysts

Abstract In presented studies the photocatalytic decomposition of NOx on gypsum plates modified by TiO2-N,Cphotocatalysts were presented. The gypsum plates were obtained by addition of 10 or 20 wt.% of different types of titanium dioxide, such as: pure TiO2 and carbon and nitrogen co-modified TiO2 (TiO2-N,C) to gypsum. TiO2-N,C photocatalysts were obtained by heating up the starting TiO2 (Grupa Azoty Zakłady Chemiczne Police S.A) in the atmosphere of ammonia and carbon at the temperature: 100, 300 i 600ºC. Photocatalyst were characterized by FTIR/DRS, UVVis/DR, BET and XRD methods. Moreover the compressive strength tests of modified gypsum were also done. Photocatalytic activity of gypsum plates was done during NOx decomposition. The highest photocatalytic activity has gypsum with 20 wt.% addition of TiO2-N,C obtained at 300ºC.

Adsorption of CO2 on C,N–TiO2 Surfaces

Modification of the TiO2 surface by carbon and nitrogen results in the formation of photocatalysts that have high sorption capacity for CO2. The photocatalysts were obtained as follows: approximately 1 g of bare TiO2 was placed in a furnace and kept for 1 hour at a temperature from 100 to 600 °C. The sample was first placed under argon atmosphere, following which it was placed under an atmosphere of carbon and nitrogen, achieved by passing ammonia via a washer with n-hexane. This treatment is continued for 1 hour, following which the sample was cooled down to room temperature under argon atmosphere. The photocatalysts thus obtained were characterized by Fourier transform-infrared/diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, UV–Vis/diffuse reflectance, X-ray diffraction and Brunauer, Emmett and Teller surface area measurements. In addition, the zeta potential of the surface of photocatalysts was measured. Sorption tests were conducted in a special reactor using the following conditions: temperature: 20 °C, gas flow rate: 100 cm3/minute; CO2 concentration: 1000 ppm. Our results show that the best sorbent was TiO2 modified at 100 °C for 1 hour. Its sorption capacity amounted to 6.63 mg of CO2 on 1 g of C,N–TiO2 photocatalyst.