Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Wastes

A special issue of ChemEngineering (ISSN 2305-7084).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2023) | Viewed by 5322

Special Issue Editor

Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, 011061 Bucharest, Romania
Interests: biochemical engineering; chemical engineering; biodegradable polymers; polymeric biomaterials; environmental biotechnology; environmental engineering; mathematical modelling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since 1911, when brought to scientific knowledge, the photocatalysis followed a difficult and challenging road to become a sustainable and ecofriendly technology. Nowadays, the light energy can be successfully used to decompose complex, low biodegradable or recalcitrant pollutants for the benefit of the environment. Furthermore, the chemical energy stored in the organic wastes can be converted into electricity and hydrogen during the photodegradation process.

As promising as it may be, the photocatalytic degradation of organic wastes still has drawbacks that impede its industrial application. To overcome the deficiencies of this technology there is a constant search for new photocatalytic systems with good visible-light absorption capacity, lower recombination rates of electron–hole pairs, and modified band gap to enhance photocatalytic activity under visible light. In addition, the developed photocatalyst must exhibit high chemical stability and no toxicity, while being low cost and commercially available. Depending on catalyst state and post-recovery approach of the catalyst systems, innovative reactors configurations must be designed, to allow optimal light distribution within the reactor and larger irradiated surface area of catalyst per unit of reaction volume.

Thus, this Special Issue will focus on innovative and recent developments of engineered-photocatalysts of different scale, photocatalyst doping agents/cocatalysts, photocatalyst immobilization/support materials, photocatalytic reactors/photocatalytic fuel cells, related to “Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Wastes”, covering experimental, theoretical, process optimization and modelling.

It is my pleasure to invite you to submit a manuscript to this Special Issue. Original research papers and reviews in areas of topical interest are welcome.

Dr. Iuliana-Mihaela Deleanu
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  •  organic waste
  •  photodegradation
  •  photocatalysts
  •  photocatalytic reactor
  •  visible light absorption
  •  recovery of chemical energy

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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8 pages, 3275 KiB  
Article
Preparation and Photocatalytic/Photoelectrochemical Investigation of 2D ZnO/CdS Nanocomposites
by Dina Bakranova, Bekbolat Seitov and Nurlan Bakranov
ChemEngineering 2022, 6(6), 87; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/chemengineering6060087 - 09 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1298
Abstract
Properties of heterotructured semiconductors based on ZnO/CdS nanosheets are investigated for their possible application in photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical reactions. Semiconductor material is the main active coating of photoanodes, which triggers the half-reaction of water oxidation and reduction, which entails the purifying or splitting [...] Read more.
Properties of heterotructured semiconductors based on ZnO/CdS nanosheets are investigated for their possible application in photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical reactions. Semiconductor material is the main active coating of photoanodes, which triggers the half-reaction of water oxidation and reduction, which entails the purifying or splitting of water. This article explains nanocomposite assembly by convenient and simple methods. The study of the physicochemical properties of semiconductor layers is carried out using electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry, and UV-visible spectroscopy. Studies of electrochemical properties are carried out by potential static methods in electrochemical cells. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Wastes)
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20 pages, 5499 KiB  
Article
Enhancing the Photocatalytic Activity of TiO2/Na2Ti6O13 Composites by Gold for the Photodegradation of Phenol
by Muhamad Diki Permana, Atiek Rostika Noviyanti, Putri Rizka Lestari, Nobuhiro Kumada, Diana Rakhmawaty Eddy and Iman Rahayu
ChemEngineering 2022, 6(5), 69; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/chemengineering6050069 - 08 Sep 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1865
Abstract
This study aims to synthesize Au/TiO2/Na2Ti6O13 composites to reduce the occurrence of recombination and increase photocatalytic activity in phenol degradation. Gold was used due to its high stability and strong surface plasmon resonance (SPR) properties which [...] Read more.
This study aims to synthesize Au/TiO2/Na2Ti6O13 composites to reduce the occurrence of recombination and increase photocatalytic activity in phenol degradation. Gold was used due to its high stability and strong surface plasmon resonance (SPR) properties which make it operate effectively in the visible light spectrum. The prepared composites were characterized using XRD, SEM, TEM, FTIR, and DRS. The results showed that the composite consisted of rutile TiO2 with a crystal size of 38–40 nm and Na2Ti6O13 with a crystal size of 25 nm. The gold in the composite has a crystallite size of 16–19 nm along with the percentage of gold added. Morphological analysis shows that the composite has the form of inhomogeneous spherical particles with gold spread among composites with sizes less than 20 nm. FTIR analysis showed the presence of Na–O and Ti–O–Ti bonds in the composite. The best composite was 3% Au/TiO2/Na2Ti6O13 which had high crystallinity, small particle size, and bandgap energy of 2.59 eV. Furthermore, it had an efficiency 205% better than without gold. After that, cost estimation is proposed as a large-scale application. This study describes the total cost, break-even analysis, and payback analysis for the commercialization needs of the designed photocatalytic catalyst. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Wastes)
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Review

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20 pages, 3819 KiB  
Review
A Brief Review of Photocatalytic Reactors Used for Persistent Pesticides Degradation
by Gabriela Olimpia Isopencu, Alexandra Mocanu and Iuliana-Mihaela Deleanu
ChemEngineering 2022, 6(6), 89; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/chemengineering6060089 - 11 Nov 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2769
Abstract
Pesticide pollution is a major issue, given their intensive use in the 20th century, which led to their accumulation in the environment. At the international level, strict regulations are imposed on the use of pesticides, simultaneously with the increasing interest of researchers from [...] Read more.
Pesticide pollution is a major issue, given their intensive use in the 20th century, which led to their accumulation in the environment. At the international level, strict regulations are imposed on the use of pesticides, simultaneously with the increasing interest of researchers from all over the world to find methods of neutralizing them. Photocatalytic degradation is an intensively studied method to be applied for the degradation of pesticides, especially through the use of solar energy. The mechanisms of photocatalysis are studied and implemented in pilot and semi-pilot installations on experimental platforms, in order to be able to make this method more efficient and to identify the equipment that can achieve the photodegradation of pesticides with the highest possible yields. This paper proposes a brief review of the impact of pesticides on the environment and some techniques for their degradation, with the main emphasis on different photoreactor configurations, using slurry or immobilized photocatalysts. This review highlights the efforts of researchers to harmonize the main elements of photocatalysis: choice of the photocatalyst, and the way of photocatalyst integration within photoreaction configuration, in order to make the transfer of momentum, mass, and energy as efficient as possible for optimal excitation of the photocatalyst. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Wastes)
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