DEVELOPMENT OF SUPPORTED TiO2 PHOTOCATALYST BASED ADSORBENT FOR PHOTOCATALYTIC DEGRADATION OF PHENOL

The presence of harmful organic compounds such as phenols and their derivatives in water supplies and from industrial effluents is a topic of global concern. In recent years, it has received considerable attention as an alternative for treating industrial waste water. Photocatalysis is an emerging promising technology as it will completely oxidize harmful organic compounds present in the waste stream without leaving behind any hazardous residues. In the present study, photocatalytic degradation of phenol was investigated using supported TiO2 photocatalyst based adsorbent as a semiconductor photocatalyst in a batch reactor. The synthesized photocatalyst composition was developed using TiO2 as photoactive component and zeolite as the adsorbents, all supported on silica gel using colloidal silica gel binder. The project included the search for the optimum composition of the supported catalyst and to study the reusability of prepared catalyst. The optimum formulation of supported catalyst was found to be (TiO2:ZSM-5:silica gel:colloidal silica gel=5:3:5:3) which gave the highest efficiency with 98 % degradation of 50 mg/L phenol solution in six hours. The supported TiO2 was found to be stable for repeated use