Advanced Degradation of Lignin from Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) by a Combination of Photocatalytic-Fenton Treatment and TiO2 Nanoparticle as the Catalyst

Lignin-based black liquor from oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFB) as a side product of the pretreatment process in second-generation bioethanol is the next problem in developing renewable energy. Therefore, developing technology to overcome this problem is needed. In this study, titanium dioxide (TiO2) as photocatalyst and their synergy with heterogeneous Fenton-like process for degrading lignin was investigated. Several conditions were varied and investigated independently to obtain the optimum condition. Result showed that among the conditions has the optimum number. 0.5 g of FeSO4, 400 mg/L of H2O2, pH 4, and 0.03 g of TiO2 were the optimum condition of heterogeneous photo-Fenton to decompose 100 ppm of Lignin up to 90% under UV-A irradiation. Post annealing treatment of the prepared TiO2 improved the photodegradation around 50%. The schematic illustration of lignin photodecomposition also supported the results.