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In-situ photocatalytic remediation of MTBE-contaminated water: effects of organics and inorganics

This investigation is part of a feasibility study which uses photocatalysis as a potential technology for cleaning up contaminated groundwater. It is likely that the presence of other constituents in groundwater may affect the performance of the process. Therefore, this study was conducted to invest...

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Main Authors: Lim, L.L.P, Lynch, R.J
Format: E-Article
Published: Elsevier Ltd 2011
Subjects:
TC Hydraulic engineering. Ocean engineering
Online Access:http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/3029/
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0926860X10008501
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spelling my.unimas.ir.30292015-03-23T08:22:16Z http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/3029/ In-situ photocatalytic remediation of MTBE-contaminated water: effects of organics and inorganics Lim, L.L.P Lynch, R.J TC Hydraulic engineering. Ocean engineering This investigation is part of a feasibility study which uses photocatalysis as a potential technology for cleaning up contaminated groundwater. It is likely that the presence of other constituents in groundwater may affect the performance of the process. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the effect of organic compounds and dissolved ions on the removal efficiency of a contaminant, methyl tert butyl ether (MTBE), using a reactor reported previously, Honeycomb II. Toluene, ethylbenzene and o-xylene (TEo-X), and iron, calcium, nitrate and chloride were used to represent organic and inorganic constituents, respectively, in this study. The MTBE removal efficiency decreased with increasing TEo-X concentration. The low MTBE removal efficiency at iron concentrations of 15 and 30 mg L−1 could be suppressed by the effect of chloride ion via possible mechanisms such as OH radical scavenging and/or blocking of active sites via adsorption onto the catalyst surface in acidic conditions. The MTBE removal efficiency peaked at iron concentrations of 50 mg L−1. When flowing through the reactor in a single pass, the MTBE removal efficiency of Honeycomb II increased with increasing hydraulic residence time (HRT), similar to a previous study but at lower efficiencies. When both TEo-X and dissolved ions were present, the MTBE removal efficiency remained circa 50% after 8 h operation despite the variation of TEo-X and dissolved ion concentrations. Although the catalyst was used for six experiments prior to the double pass flow experiment, about 80% MTBE removal was achieved after two passes in 48 h, in the presence of TEo-X and dissolved ions. This study demonstrated that this photocatalytic reactor can still degrade MTBE in the presence of other constituents without any process optimisation measures and reinforces its potential use for in situ groundwater remediation. Elsevier Ltd 2011 E-Article NonPeerReviewed Lim, L.L.P and Lynch, R.J (2011) In-situ photocatalytic remediation of MTBE-contaminated water: effects of organics and inorganics. Applied Catalysis A: General, 394 (2). pp. 52-61. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0926860X10008501
institution Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
building Centre for Academic Information Services (CAIS)
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
content_source UNIMAS Institutional Repository
url_provider http://ir.unimas.my/
topic TC Hydraulic engineering. Ocean engineering
spellingShingle TC Hydraulic engineering. Ocean engineering
Lim, L.L.P
Lynch, R.J
In-situ photocatalytic remediation of MTBE-contaminated water: effects of organics and inorganics
description This investigation is part of a feasibility study which uses photocatalysis as a potential technology for cleaning up contaminated groundwater. It is likely that the presence of other constituents in groundwater may affect the performance of the process. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the effect of organic compounds and dissolved ions on the removal efficiency of a contaminant, methyl tert butyl ether (MTBE), using a reactor reported previously, Honeycomb II. Toluene, ethylbenzene and o-xylene (TEo-X), and iron, calcium, nitrate and chloride were used to represent organic and inorganic constituents, respectively, in this study. The MTBE removal efficiency decreased with increasing TEo-X concentration. The low MTBE removal efficiency at iron concentrations of 15 and 30 mg L−1 could be suppressed by the effect of chloride ion via possible mechanisms such as OH radical scavenging and/or blocking of active sites via adsorption onto the catalyst surface in acidic conditions. The MTBE removal efficiency peaked at iron concentrations of 50 mg L−1. When flowing through the reactor in a single pass, the MTBE removal efficiency of Honeycomb II increased with increasing hydraulic residence time (HRT), similar to a previous study but at lower efficiencies. When both TEo-X and dissolved ions were present, the MTBE removal efficiency remained circa 50% after 8 h operation despite the variation of TEo-X and dissolved ion concentrations. Although the catalyst was used for six experiments prior to the double pass flow experiment, about 80% MTBE removal was achieved after two passes in 48 h, in the presence of TEo-X and dissolved ions. This study demonstrated that this photocatalytic reactor can still degrade MTBE in the presence of other constituents without any process optimisation measures and reinforces its potential use for in situ groundwater remediation.
format E-Article
author Lim, L.L.P
Lynch, R.J
author_facet Lim, L.L.P
Lynch, R.J
author_sort Lim, L.L.P
title In-situ photocatalytic remediation of MTBE-contaminated water: effects of organics and inorganics
title_short In-situ photocatalytic remediation of MTBE-contaminated water: effects of organics and inorganics
title_full In-situ photocatalytic remediation of MTBE-contaminated water: effects of organics and inorganics
title_fullStr In-situ photocatalytic remediation of MTBE-contaminated water: effects of organics and inorganics
title_full_unstemmed In-situ photocatalytic remediation of MTBE-contaminated water: effects of organics and inorganics
title_sort in-situ photocatalytic remediation of mtbe-contaminated water: effects of organics and inorganics
publisher Elsevier Ltd
publishDate 2011
url http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/3029/
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0926860X10008501
_version_ 1644509245135126528
score 13.211869

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