Removal of noxious environmental pollutant using photocatalytic membrane reactor

• Main Author: Yeap, Ken Vin.
• Other Authors: Lim Teik Thye
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Environmental engineering::Environmental pollution
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/48956
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Advance oxidation Process (AOP) has received much attention not only among researcher but the industry alike in the recent decade especially titanium dioxide (TiO2) for its superior characteristic and performance. The literature review of the current research trend is presented in chapter 2. In this study, immobilized TiO2 were coated on aluminium dioxide by simple sol-gel method by using titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) as TiO2 precursor. Pore size was controlled by using a specific amount of Tween 80 surfactant and annealing temperature at 500oC. The focus of this project is to fabricate a TiO2 composite membrane with hierarchical porosity on aluminium dioxide support, to fully characterize as fabricated membrane and to evaluate the photocatalyic performance of this membrane in terms of batch and flow through a dead end reactor. The membrane is characterized thoroughly using X-ray diffractometer (XRD), N2 adsorption-desorption porosymetry analysis(BET), transmission electron microscope (TEM), UV/ VIS spectrophotometer (UV/vis DRS), scanning electron microscope (SEM), atomic force microscopes (AFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). We report successfully fabrication of a relatively thin, homogenous, smooth, free of defect (cracks and pinholes) and a high level of surface species ordering membrane. The average roughness of the membrane is 10nm with a very well distributed (Gaussian bell curve) pore size. The technique used in this project was able to achieve uniformity on the skin layer, as the band gap remains the same which membrane coated with multiple layers. It is evident from the finding that the as synthesize membrane are reproducible. Rhodamine B is used as a target compound for the photocatalytic degradation study. It is found in the batch study that there is a shift in maximum light adsorption spectrum of Rhodamine B signifying degradation of Rhodamine B to Rhodamine in the presence of the composite membrane. The reduction of concentration of Rhodamine B due to adsorption is deemed insignificant. Optimum operating parameter for the dead end flow through reactor is established with 4ml/min inlet flow rate shows a good compromise between retention time and the amount of time the pollutant flow through the membrane. The composite membrane with hierarchical porosity shows a better flux performance, good specific Rhodamine B removal, and posses an anti fouling property.