Phototreatment of Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) over Cu/TiO2 Photocatalyst

• Main Authors: Cheng, C. K., Kim, Hoong Ng, Mohd Rizauddin, Deraman, Chun, How Ang, Soo, Kee Chong, Kong, Zi Ying, Khan, Maksudur R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Department of Chemical Engineering, Diponegoro University 2014
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/7228/1/fkksa-2014-chin-Phototreatment_of_Palm.pdf; http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/7228/; http://dx.doi.org/10.9767/bcrec.9.2.6011.121-127
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah

The current work reported on the use of different formulations of Cu/TiO2 photocatalysts for the UV-irradiation of palm oil mills effluent (POME). Different copper loadings, viz. 2 wt%, 5 wt%, 10 wt%, 15 wt%, 20 wt% and 25 wt% were doped onto titania. XRD pattern confirmed the presence of anatase TiO2 as primary phase due to mild calcination temperature (573 K). Photo-decomposition of POME over 20 wt% Cu/TiO2 exhibited the highest conversion (27.0%) attributed to its large pore diameter (20.0 nm). In addition, optimum loading was 0.83 g/l.