Photolysis of organic pollutants in wastewater with 206 nm UV irradiation

A new-type UV light source (206 nm) was explored for the degradation of organic pollutants in wastewater for the first time. The degradation performances of triphenyltin chloride (TPTCl), dimethyl phthalate (DMP), as well as rhodamine B (RhB) were investigated. The results indicated that removal efficiency of 50 mg/L RhB, 60 mg/L DMP and 120 mg/L TPTCl can reach 88.6%, 92.5% and 89.4% for 60 min, 50 min and 75 min, respectively. By comparison of removal efficiency, we found 206 nm is superior to 253.7 nm UV in wastewater treatment, implying it is an effective, promising, and worthwhile exploring technology to decompose organic pollutants in wastewater. (C) 2008 Hui Qi Hou. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society. All rights reserved.