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Photocatalytic oxidation process used as a pretreatment to improve hexane vapors biofiltration
Author(s) -
SaucedoLucero Jose Octavio,
Arriaga Sonia
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of chemical technology and biotechnology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.64
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1097-4660
pISSN - 0268-2575
DOI - 10.1002/jctb.4396
Subject(s) - photocatalysis , biofilter , hexane , chemistry , solubility , biodegradation , degradation (telecommunications) , oxidation process , chemical engineering , chromatography , organic chemistry , pulp and paper industry , catalysis , telecommunications , computer science , engineering
BACKGROUND Photolytic and photocatalytic oxidation processes were used as pretreatments for the purpose of producing more soluble and easily degradable byproducts that were subsequently treated in a biofiltration system for VOC treatment. n‐Hexane was chosen as a model hydrophobic VOC , and ZnO was used as a photocatalyst. RESULTS The potential of this technology was evaluated at an inlet load of 200 g m −3 h −1 and a residence time of 94.2 s for the coupled system. The results showed that the photocatalytic pretreatment had a greater impact on the removal of hexane than the photolytic pretreatment with elimination capacities ( EC ) of 43 g m −3 h −1 and 24 g m −3 h −1 , respectively. The EC of hexane and the CO 2 production reached in the coupled system increased by at least 20%. This behavior was directly related to the high biodegradability of byproducts produced in the photocatalytic system, such as alcohols and ketones. CONCLUSION Photocatalytic oxidation used as a pretreatment system for hexane vapors using ZnO as photocatalyst enabled the generation of byproducts with high solubility that could be easily degraded in subsequent biological treatment. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry