The Effect of Light Wavelength on Water Quality in Photocatalytic Seawater Pre-treatment

Alternative pre-treatment of seawater via photocatalytic reaction is not well explored. Although titanium oxide (TiO2) is widely used in photocatalytic reaction, the application of other material especially from biomass ash is rare. In this research, the effect of light wavelength for seawater trea...

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Main Authors: Weerana, Eh Kan, Ruzinah, Isha
Format: Conference or Workshop Item
Language:English
Published: Universiti Malaysia Pahang 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/15047/
http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/15047/1/P014%20pg89-94.pdf
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author Weerana, Eh Kan
Ruzinah, Isha
author_facet Weerana, Eh Kan
Ruzinah, Isha
author_sort Weerana, Eh Kan
building UMP Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Alternative pre-treatment of seawater via photocatalytic reaction is not well explored. Although titanium oxide (TiO2) is widely used in photocatalytic reaction, the application of other material especially from biomass ash is rare. In this research, the effect of light wavelength for seawater treatment and the degradation of organic pollutants by using hybrid TiO2 photocatalyst supported by oil palm fiber ash (biomass ash) are studied. The photocatalyst which consisted of TiO2 and oil palm fiber ash weight ratio of 1:1 (i.e Ti:Ash 50:50) was synthesized via wet impregnation method. The Ti:Ash 50:50 photocatalyst was calcined at 500°C in the presence of air. The experiment was performed in a one litre borosilicate photocatalytic reactor. The percentage weight ratio of 1:400 for catalyst to seawater sample was set. The mixture of photocatalyst and water sample was stirred at 400 rpm to have homogenized distribution of the photocatalyst in the water. The investigation was carried out for two hours by exposing the reactor with either 365 nm or 420 nm mercury light. The photocatalyst was characterized by using N2 adsorption (BET) and UV/Vis/Nir to determine the specific surface area, pore volume and pore size and band gap energy of the catalyst respectively. The Ti:Ash 50:50 band gap energy was obtained at 3.1eV. This indicates that the catalyst was reactive when less than 385 nm light wavelength was used. The quality of initial and product seawater was analyzed via pH, conductivity, turbidity and chemical oxygen demand (COD). The small reduction of conductivity and COD obtained when using Ti:Ash 50:50 without light present shows the system was dominant by adsorption without no reaction. Higher reduction of conductivity, pH, turbidity and COD was achieved when the Ti:Ash 50:50 photocatalyst was exposed to 365 nm light wavelength than the Ti:Ash 50:50 photocatalyst that was exposed to 420 nm light wavelength. In addition, significant increment of water temperature (from 25°C to 100°C) was observed when 420 nm light wavelength was used. This leads to distillation dominated the process rather than photocatalytic reaction. It can be deduced that hybrid photocatalyst of Ti:Ash 50:50 has remarkable capabilities in pre-treatment and purify the seawater. The light wavelength also plays important role in adsorption behavior and photocatalytic activity of the catalyst.
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spelling ump-150472017-12-14T04:28:51Z http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/15047/ The Effect of Light Wavelength on Water Quality in Photocatalytic Seawater Pre-treatment Weerana, Eh Kan Ruzinah, Isha TP Chemical technology Alternative pre-treatment of seawater via photocatalytic reaction is not well explored. Although titanium oxide (TiO2) is widely used in photocatalytic reaction, the application of other material especially from biomass ash is rare. In this research, the effect of light wavelength for seawater treatment and the degradation of organic pollutants by using hybrid TiO2 photocatalyst supported by oil palm fiber ash (biomass ash) are studied. The photocatalyst which consisted of TiO2 and oil palm fiber ash weight ratio of 1:1 (i.e Ti:Ash 50:50) was synthesized via wet impregnation method. The Ti:Ash 50:50 photocatalyst was calcined at 500°C in the presence of air. The experiment was performed in a one litre borosilicate photocatalytic reactor. The percentage weight ratio of 1:400 for catalyst to seawater sample was set. The mixture of photocatalyst and water sample was stirred at 400 rpm to have homogenized distribution of the photocatalyst in the water. The investigation was carried out for two hours by exposing the reactor with either 365 nm or 420 nm mercury light. The photocatalyst was characterized by using N2 adsorption (BET) and UV/Vis/Nir to determine the specific surface area, pore volume and pore size and band gap energy of the catalyst respectively. The Ti:Ash 50:50 band gap energy was obtained at 3.1eV. This indicates that the catalyst was reactive when less than 385 nm light wavelength was used. The quality of initial and product seawater was analyzed via pH, conductivity, turbidity and chemical oxygen demand (COD). The small reduction of conductivity and COD obtained when using Ti:Ash 50:50 without light present shows the system was dominant by adsorption without no reaction. Higher reduction of conductivity, pH, turbidity and COD was achieved when the Ti:Ash 50:50 photocatalyst was exposed to 365 nm light wavelength than the Ti:Ash 50:50 photocatalyst that was exposed to 420 nm light wavelength. In addition, significant increment of water temperature (from 25°C to 100°C) was observed when 420 nm light wavelength was used. This leads to distillation dominated the process rather than photocatalytic reaction. It can be deduced that hybrid photocatalyst of Ti:Ash 50:50 has remarkable capabilities in pre-treatment and purify the seawater. The light wavelength also plays important role in adsorption behavior and photocatalytic activity of the catalyst. Universiti Malaysia Pahang 2016 Conference or Workshop Item PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/15047/1/P014%20pg89-94.pdf Weerana, Eh Kan and Ruzinah, Isha (2016) The Effect of Light Wavelength on Water Quality in Photocatalytic Seawater Pre-treatment. In: Proceedings of The National Conference for Postgraduate Research (NCON-PGR 2016) , 24-25 September 2016 , Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP), Pekan, Pahang. pp. 89-94.. (Published) http://ee.ump.edu.my/ncon/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Proceeding-NCON-PGR-2016.zip
spellingShingle TP Chemical technology
Weerana, Eh Kan
Ruzinah, Isha
The Effect of Light Wavelength on Water Quality in Photocatalytic Seawater Pre-treatment
title The Effect of Light Wavelength on Water Quality in Photocatalytic Seawater Pre-treatment
title_full The Effect of Light Wavelength on Water Quality in Photocatalytic Seawater Pre-treatment
title_fullStr The Effect of Light Wavelength on Water Quality in Photocatalytic Seawater Pre-treatment
title_full_unstemmed The Effect of Light Wavelength on Water Quality in Photocatalytic Seawater Pre-treatment
title_short The Effect of Light Wavelength on Water Quality in Photocatalytic Seawater Pre-treatment
title_sort effect of light wavelength on water quality in photocatalytic seawater pre-treatment
topic TP Chemical technology
url http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/15047/
http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/15047/
http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/15047/1/P014%20pg89-94.pdf