UV/oxidant degradation of pre-treated palm oil mill effluent in a photocatalytic fuel cell
Attributable to the prosperous palm oil production growth in Malaysia, the generated palm oil mill effluent (POME) poses a high threat owing to its highly polluted characteristic. As the disposal of this effluent raised public environmental concern, POME pollution abatement and potential energy r...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Final Year Project / Dissertation / Thesis |
| Published: |
2022
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| Online Access: | http://eprints.utar.edu.my/5705/ http://eprints.utar.edu.my/5705/1/fyp_EV_2022_YJCT.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848886482348015616 |
|---|---|
| author | Yap, Joyee Chun Ting |
| author_facet | Yap, Joyee Chun Ting |
| author_sort | Yap, Joyee Chun Ting |
| building | UTAR Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Attributable to the prosperous palm oil production growth in Malaysia, the generated
palm oil mill effluent (POME) poses a high threat owing to its highly polluted
characteristic. As the disposal of this effluent raised public environmental concern,
POME pollution abatement and potential energy recovery from the effluent are flagged
up as a research topic of interest. In this study, a new photocatalytic fuel cell system
with employment of ZnO/Zn nanorod array photoanode, CuO/Cu cathode and
persulfate oxidant was successfully designed to improve the degradation of organic
pollutant in POME and simultaneous energy production. The photoelectrodes were
fabricated and characterized by Field emission scanning electron microscopy with
energy, X-ray diffraction, UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and Mott–
Schottky plot analysis. Owing to the properties of strong oxidant of persulfate, the
proposed PFC system has exhibited exceptional performance, increasing the chemical
oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency from 39.6% to 96.2% and amount of
electricity generated from 5.7 to 35.6 mW/cm2 relative to the bare PFC system. The
best PFC system performance was yielded under optimal conditions of 2.5mM of
persulfate oxidant, POME dilution factor of 1:20 and natural solution pH of 8.51.
Subsequently, a radical scavenging test was conducted, determining that the
predominant radical species were sulfate radical (SO4
-
•) and hydroxyl radical (•OH)
contributed to effective removal of organics pollutant in POME and generation of
electricity. The following recycling test affirmed the stability and durability
photoanode after 4 continuous repetition usage and the cost analysis revealed the
economic viability of PFC system serving as a post-treatment for degradation of
POME. These findings contribute toward enhancing the sustainability criteria and
economic viability of palm oil by adopting sustainable and efficient POME posttreatment technology. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T19:39:12Z |
| format | Final Year Project / Dissertation / Thesis |
| id | utar-5705 |
| institution | Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T19:39:12Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | utar-57052023-08-16T12:18:05Z UV/oxidant degradation of pre-treated palm oil mill effluent in a photocatalytic fuel cell Yap, Joyee Chun Ting TD Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TP Chemical technology Attributable to the prosperous palm oil production growth in Malaysia, the generated palm oil mill effluent (POME) poses a high threat owing to its highly polluted characteristic. As the disposal of this effluent raised public environmental concern, POME pollution abatement and potential energy recovery from the effluent are flagged up as a research topic of interest. In this study, a new photocatalytic fuel cell system with employment of ZnO/Zn nanorod array photoanode, CuO/Cu cathode and persulfate oxidant was successfully designed to improve the degradation of organic pollutant in POME and simultaneous energy production. The photoelectrodes were fabricated and characterized by Field emission scanning electron microscopy with energy, X-ray diffraction, UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and Mott– Schottky plot analysis. Owing to the properties of strong oxidant of persulfate, the proposed PFC system has exhibited exceptional performance, increasing the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency from 39.6% to 96.2% and amount of electricity generated from 5.7 to 35.6 mW/cm2 relative to the bare PFC system. The best PFC system performance was yielded under optimal conditions of 2.5mM of persulfate oxidant, POME dilution factor of 1:20 and natural solution pH of 8.51. Subsequently, a radical scavenging test was conducted, determining that the predominant radical species were sulfate radical (SO4 - •) and hydroxyl radical (•OH) contributed to effective removal of organics pollutant in POME and generation of electricity. The following recycling test affirmed the stability and durability photoanode after 4 continuous repetition usage and the cost analysis revealed the economic viability of PFC system serving as a post-treatment for degradation of POME. These findings contribute toward enhancing the sustainability criteria and economic viability of palm oil by adopting sustainable and efficient POME posttreatment technology. 2022-01 Final Year Project / Dissertation / Thesis NonPeerReviewed application/pdf http://eprints.utar.edu.my/5705/1/fyp_EV_2022_YJCT.pdf Yap, Joyee Chun Ting (2022) UV/oxidant degradation of pre-treated palm oil mill effluent in a photocatalytic fuel cell. Final Year Project, UTAR. http://eprints.utar.edu.my/5705/ |
| spellingShingle | TD Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TP Chemical technology Yap, Joyee Chun Ting UV/oxidant degradation of pre-treated palm oil mill effluent in a photocatalytic fuel cell |
| title | UV/oxidant degradation of pre-treated palm oil mill effluent in a photocatalytic fuel cell |
| title_full | UV/oxidant degradation of pre-treated palm oil mill effluent in a photocatalytic fuel cell |
| title_fullStr | UV/oxidant degradation of pre-treated palm oil mill effluent in a photocatalytic fuel cell |
| title_full_unstemmed | UV/oxidant degradation of pre-treated palm oil mill effluent in a photocatalytic fuel cell |
| title_short | UV/oxidant degradation of pre-treated palm oil mill effluent in a photocatalytic fuel cell |
| title_sort | uv/oxidant degradation of pre-treated palm oil mill effluent in a photocatalytic fuel cell |
| topic | TD Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TP Chemical technology |
| url | http://eprints.utar.edu.my/5705/ http://eprints.utar.edu.my/5705/1/fyp_EV_2022_YJCT.pdf |