Solar photocatalytic treatment of synthetic municipal wastewater

The photocatalytic organic content reduction of a selected synthetic municipal wastewater by the use of heterogeneous and homogeneous photocatalytic methods under solar irradiation has been studied at a pilot-plant scale at the Plataforma Solar de Almeria. In the case of heterogeneous photocatalysis the effect of catalysts and oxidants concentration on the decomposition degree of the wastewater was examined. By an accumulation energy of 50 kJ L-1 the synergetic effect of 0.2gL(-1) TiO2 P-25 with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and Na2S2O8 leads to a 55% and 73% reduction of the initial organic carbon content, respectively. The photo-fenton process appears to be more efficient for this type of wastewater in comparison to the TiO2/oxidant system. An accumulation energy of 20 kJ L-1 leads to 80% reduction of the organic content. The presence of oxalate in the Fe3+/H2O2 system leads to an additional improvement of the photocatalytic efficiency. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.