Fayazeh Rabanimehr; Mehrdad Farhadian; Ali Reza Solaimany Nazar; Elham Sadat Behineh
Abstract
In photocatalytic microreactors the catalyst layer is obtained by integration of nanostructure films of semiconductors. One of these nanostructures that have a good photocatalytic activity is ZnO nanowires. The photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue in a continuous flow microreactor with ZnO nanowires ...
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In photocatalytic microreactors the catalyst layer is obtained by integration of nanostructure films of semiconductors. One of these nanostructures that have a good photocatalytic activity is ZnO nanowires. The photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue in a continuous flow microreactor with ZnO nanowires deposited film is simulated. A finite element model is developed using COMSOL Multiphysics version 5.3 software to simulate the microreactor performance. The kinetic law of the photocatalytic reaction is assumed to be Langmuir–Hinshelwood. The kinetic constants kLHa and K are determined 1.43×10-7 mol/m2s and 7.5 m3/mol, respectively. The percent of average absolute deviation of the model in predicting the methylene blue outlet concentration obtained about 0.12% mol/m3. The model showed a very good agreement with the published experimental data. The effect of microreactor depth, methylene blue inlet concentration and flow rate on the methylene blue degradation is also investigated. The simulation results showed that the microreactor with shorter depth and lower values of inlet concentration and flow rate has higher efficiency. Thiele modulus and Damköhler number are both estimated lower than 1. It indicates that the photocatalytic reactions occur without internal and bulk mass transfer limitations.
Simin Shokrolahi; Mehrdad Farhadian; Nila Davari
Abstract
ZnO/Fe2O3/Zeolite nanophotocatalyst was synthesized by sol-gel method, and its performance in degradation of ENR, as one of the most commonly used veterinary antibiotics, is evaluated. The synthesized nanophotocatalyst is characterized by XRD, XRF, FT-IR, FE-SEM, EDX, and BET analyses. According to XRD, ...
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ZnO/Fe2O3/Zeolite nanophotocatalyst was synthesized by sol-gel method, and its performance in degradation of ENR, as one of the most commonly used veterinary antibiotics, is evaluated. The synthesized nanophotocatalyst is characterized by XRD, XRF, FT-IR, FE-SEM, EDX, and BET analyses. According to XRD, FT-IR, and EDX, presence of ZnO and Fe2O3 on the zeolite surface is confirmed. Based on XRF results, the optimal molar value of Fe3+/ZnO in the synthesized nanophotocatalyst is obtained as 0.06. The FE-SEM results confirm the deposition of ZnO/Fe2O3 on the zeolite surface and indicate the approximate size of the photocatalyst particles as 48 nm. According to BET results, the specific surface area and pore volume for the synthesized nanophotocatalyst are obtained as 280.16 m2/g and 0.35 cm3/g, respectively. The simultaneous effects of operational factors, including the concentration of pollutant (150-450 mg/l), initial pH of the solution (5-9), and H2O2 concentration (50-200 mg/L) are examined on the ENR degradation efficiency via RSM. The results demonstrate that ENR concentration, pH, and H2O2 concentration have significant impacts on the ENR degradation efficiency in turn. According to the experimental results under optimal conditions (pH, contaminant concentration, and H2O2 concentration: 9, 500 mg/l, and 90 mg/l, respectively), the ENR degradation efficiency is 97.4%. This study suggests that the synthesized nanophotocatalyst has an acceptable efficiency to degrade a non-biodegradable contaminant.
