TiO2-carbon microspheres as photocatalysts for effective remediation of pharmaceuticals under simulated solar light
Entity
UAM. Departamento de Ingeniería QuímicaPublisher
ElsevierDate
2021-06-21Citation
10.1016/j.seppur.2021.119169
Separation and Purification Technology 275 (2021): 119169
ISSN
1383-5866 (print)DOI
10.1016/j.seppur.2021.119169Funded by
This research was funded by the Spanish State Research Agency (PID2019-106186RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033). M. Peñas-Garzón is indebted to Spanish MECD for a FPU grant (FPU16/00576 grant) and to Spanish MICIU for funding the international stay (EST18/00048 grant) at the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering (ChEE), University of Cincinnati. Authors thank the Research Support Services of the University of Extremadura (SAIUEx) for its technical and scientific supportProject
Gobierno de España. PID2019-106186RB-I00Editor's Version
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2021.119169Subjects
Degradation pathway; Diclofenac; Lignin; Pharmaceuticals; Solar photocatalysis; TiO2-carbon microspheres; QuímicaRights
© 2021 The Authors
Esta obra está bajo una licencia de Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-SinObraDerivada 4.0 Internacional.
Abstract
In this work, novel carbon microspheres supported TiO2 nanoparticles were prepared for the degradation of pharmaceuticals in water, selecting diclofenac, acetaminophen, and ibuprofen as target pollutants. Lignin, an important biomass byproduct from the paper industry and biorefineries, was transformed in carbon microspheres by a novel approach based on a Fe-activated hydrothermal carbonization followed by pyrolysis at 900 °C. These carbon microspheres were further covered with TiO2 by a solvothermal treatment. The effects of several parameters including hydrothermal carbonization time and mass ratio (TiO2:carbon) on the catalytic activity of TiO2-carbon microspheres were investigated. The results revealed that the combination of long carbonization time and high TiO2:carbon ratio achieved superior TiO2-carbon microspheres (Ti2-C20) catalytic performance. Ti2-C20 achieved complete degradation of ibuprofen (5 mg·L−1) and diclofenac (5 mg·L−1) within 3 h under solar light and mineralization percentages close to 50%. Moreover, the photocatalytic performance remained high after five reuse cycles and was barely affected by the presence of common inorganic ions in treated wastewater (such as Cl–, NO3– and HCO3–). The degradation pathway of diclofenac was proposed, involving C-N bond cleavage, and subsequent hydroxylation and cyclization reactions leading to the formation of aliphatic carboxylic acids. Overall, promising photocatalysts were obtained from a biomass byproduct for effective degradation of pharmaceuticals with the assistance of solar light
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Google Scholar:Abdelraheem, Wael H.M.
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Dionysiou, Dionysios D.
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