UV-C/H2O2 heterogeneous photocatalytic inactivation of coliforms in municipal wastewater in a TiO2/SiO2 fixed bed reactor: a kinetic and statistical approach

Cynthia M. Núñez-Núñez, Isaías Chairez-Hernández, Manuel García-Roig, Juan C. García-Prieto, Rosa M. Melgoza-Alemán, José B. Proal-Nájera

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11 Scopus citations

Abstract

Escherichia coli (E. coli) and total coliforms (TC) present in biologically treated municipal wastewater were inactivated in samples from a wastewater treatment plant in Salamanca, Spain, through two advanced oxidation processes: UV-C/H2O2 photolysis and UV-C/(TiO2/SiO2)/H2O2 heterogeneous photocatalysis. A stainless steel reactor and a 40-W lamp (254 nm) were used. A 2 × 3 × 2 factorial design with covariates and repeated measures was performed, with the factors: initial pH of the sample (6, 7.5 and 9) and dose of H2O2 (0 and 0.5 mmol/L). The kinetic analysis showed a first order reaction for the E. coli and TC inactivation. The highest inactivation rate constants, 0.523 min−1 for E. coli and 0.337 min−1 for TC, obtained in this work, correspond to experiments performed by UV-C/(TiO2/SiO2) photocatalysis, with initial pH 6 and 0.5 mM of H2O2/L; under these conditions, the time of total inactivation of E. coli and TC microorganisms was 10 and 20 min, respectively. The analysis of covariance confirms that after three min of the experiment, all considered parameters are significant (p < 0.05).

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1159-1177
Number of pages19
JournalReaction Kinetics, Mechanisms and Catalysis
Volume125
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Dec 2018

Keywords

  • Coliforms inactivation
  • Heterogeneous (TiO/SiO) photocatalysis
  • TiO/SiO fixed bed reactor
  • UV-C/HO photolysis and photocatalysis

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