Photocatalytic Purification of Wastewater by Potocatalytic Degradation Reactions

Abstract

Photocatalytic degradation reactions have been done on dyes thats present in the industrial wastewater from Hilla textile factory. Titanium dioxide , and zinc oxide are used as a photocatalysts.Irradiation of reaction mixture was performed by the solar energy. The photcatalytic fragmentation of dyes in the solution has been followed spectrophotometrically by measuring the absorbance at λ max = 380 nm by using UV.visible spectrophotometer. The reactions were done at three different temperatures .It has been found that the efficiency of the photocatalytic degradation is increased with reaction time and increasing in temperature of the reaction. The effect of temperature on the reaction is used in the calculation of the activation energy by using Arrehnus plot ,it was about 21 kJ mol-1 . The results showed that titanium dioxide was more active in the photocatalytic degradation of dyes than zinc oxide under the same reaction conditions.