Journal
WATER AIR AND SOIL POLLUTION
Volume 230, Issue 7, Pages -Publisher
SPRINGER INT PUBL AG
DOI: 10.1007/s11270-019-4202-1
Keywords
Benzodiazepine drugs; Heterogeneous photocatalysis; Titanium dioxide; activated carbon composite; Design of experiments
Funding
- Carlos Chagas Filho Research Support Foundation of Rio de Janeiro State (FAPERJ) [E-26/202.261/2018, E-26/202.262/2018]
- National Council for Scientific and Technological Development [CNPq 308335/2017-1]
- Financing Agency of Studies and Project (FINEP) [Conv.01.14.0081.00]
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Widely consumed benzodiazepine drugs are emerging contaminants, some of them being endocrine disruptors. Although many of these drugs remain in wastewater even after conventional treatment, innovative treatability studies are still sparse. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficiency of heterogeneous photocatalysis using synthesized composites based on TiO2 and activated carbon (TiO2/AC) as catalysts under sunlight-simulated irradiation. Different ratios and calcination temperatures were tested for the synthesis, and the composite with the best photocatalytic efficiency (based on methylene blue dye removal from water solution) was the one formed by 10% AC calcined at 400 degrees C (TiO2/AC10%). This composite was applied in heterogeneous photocatalysis to remove bromazepam, clonazepam, and diazepam at environmentally relevant concentrations (100g/L). Such treatment approach has not been reported in the literature to date. Independent variables such as catalyst concentration, pH, and sunlight-simulated irradiation were studied using design of experiments (DoE) to find conditions that provide maximum removal efficiency. TiO2/AC10% powder was characterized by SEM, XRD, BET, and diffuse reflectance. Under feasible optimized conditions, the efficiency of TiO2/AC10% to remove benzodiazepine drugs from water was >97.5%, which is much higher than the removal obtained with commercial catalyst and all controls.
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