Abstract
An integrated photocatalytic-biological reactor (IPBR) was used for accelerated degradation and mineralization of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP) through simultaneous, intimate coupling of photocatalysis and biodegradation in one reactor. Intimate coupling was realized by circulating the IPBR's liquid contents between a TiO 2 film on mat glass illuminated by UV light and honeycomb ceramics as biofilm carriers. Three protocols-photocatalysis alone (P), biodegradation alone (B), and integrated photocatalysis and biodegradation (photobiodegradation, P&B)-were used for degradation of different initial TCP concentrations. Intimately coupled P&B also was compared with sequential P and B. TCP removal by intimately coupled P&B was faster than that by P and B alone or sequentially coupled P and B. Because photocatalysis relieved TCP inhibition to biodegradation by decreasing its concentration, TCP biodegradation could become more important over the full batch P&B experiments. When phenol, an easy biodegradable compounds, was added to TCP in order to promote TCP mineralization by means of secondary utilization, P&B was superior to P and B in terms of mineralization of TCP, giving 95% removal of chemical oxygen demand. Cl - was only partially released during P experiments (24%), and this corresponded to its poor mineralization in P experiments (32%). Thus, intimately coupled P&B in the IPBR made it possible obtain the best features of each: rapid photocatalytic transformation in parallel with mineralization of photocatalytic products.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 189-198 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Biodegradation |
Volume | 23 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 2012 |
Keywords
- Biodegradation
- Biofilm
- Photocatalysis
- Reactor
- Trichlorophenol
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Environmental Engineering
- Microbiology
- Bioengineering
- Environmental Chemistry
- Pollution