Lower members of the glyme family CH3-(-O-CH2-CH2-)n O-CH3 are refractory to the usual biological and physicochemical treatments, do not get retained on biofilters and are hardly sorbed to activated sludge or carbon. An alternate form of elimination is hence to be devised. TiO 2 particles have been utilized in the photocatalytic degradation of organic compounds often found in contaminated waste streams. When they are exposed to UV light, an electron is excited from the TiO2 valence band into the conduction band. The photogenerated electron vacancy ("hole") can initiate the oxidation of the organic, while the photogenerated electron must be removed from the particle by transfer to a suitable electron acceptor (scavenger). / The photocatalytic oxidation of triglyme in an aqueous suspension of TiO2 has been studied, proving the concept to be feasible. Characterization of the light distribution in the reactor has been carried out and related to the influence of catalyst load. The rate of the reaction was considerably enhanced by introducing Cu2+ as co-catalyst and by controlling the pH, with the existence of an optimum co-catalyst concentration ([triglyme]/[Cu 2+] = 2) and an optimum pH at 3.5. The influence of both parameters is explained and the pathway of the interfacial charge-transfer reaction is proven to be of the Fenton type (indirect oxidation through activation of water) and not of the Photo-Kolbe type (direct attack of the holes).
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.83853 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Buchholz, Tuisko M. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Engineering (Department of Chemical Engineering.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002271164, proquestno: AAIMR22633, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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