Abstract
Pollution of water sources by pathogens is a significant concern worldwide. In the present study, a pilot-scale once-through reactor was fabricated to investigate bacteria’s inactivation and the degradation of organic matter present in municipal wastewater using an iron-mediated TiO2 catalyst in fixed mode. The catalyst was fabricated (in a spherical shape) using waste material such as foundry sand and fly ash and coated with TiO2 for a combined hybrid effect. The influence of H2O2 concentration and the flow rate of the reactor were examined. 4.1 log reductions of bacteria with 52% and 39% of BOD and COD reductions in 45 min of treatment were observed. The catalyst was also found to be highly durable, with only a 12.5% of reduction in catalyst activity observed after 200 recycles. Therefore, this pilot-scale research indicates the ability of waste materials to be employed as a practical approach for water disinfection applications.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the sophisticated analytical instrumentation facility, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Punjab, India, for providing their facilities for the characterization of samples.
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All authors contributed to this study. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Ina Thakur and Dr. Anoop Verma. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Ina Thakur. Final paper corrections were done by Dr. Anoop Verma and Dr. Banu Örmeci. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Thakur, I., Verma, A. & Örmeci, B. Solar photocatalytic disinfection of real municipal wastewater using highly durable TiO2-coated composite in a pilot scale once through reactor. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 43654–43664 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-25331-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-25331-y