Preparation, characterization and evaluation of heterogeneous catalysts for waste water treatment

In this research the preparation and characterization of novel heterogeneous catalysts supported on porous media and their application in the oxidation of organic pollutants in waste water have been studied. Firstly, silica gel, alumina and activated carbon are selected as the potential catalyst supports. Their physical properties and adsorption capacities of copper ion and phenol are investigated. Silica gel is found not suitable as the catalyst support in this research because of its poor adsorption capacity of metal ion and phenol. Then alumina and activated carbon are used as the catalyst supports. The heterogeneous catalysts are obtained by wet impregnation method: immersion, drying and calcination. The developed catalysts are evaluated in the catalytic wet air oxidation treatment of dyeing and printing waste water. The catalyst preparation conditions were experimentally optimized by using two three-level, four-factor orthogonal collocation charts. Finally, a novel technique, Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD), which was utilized in the preparation of semiconductors and ceramic materials before, is studied to prepare the heterogeneous TiO2, catalysts. The metallo-organic compound, TTIP, is selected as the precursor. The developed heterogeneous TiO2, catalyst, together with commercially available TiO2, powder, P25, are evaluated by photocatalytic oxidation reaction with phenol as a model pollutant