Water soluble organic compounds and pharmaceutical have become sources of water contamination of growing concern. Water soluble ethers such as methyl t-butyl ether (MTBE), ethyl t-butyl ether (ETBE), t-amyl methyl ether (TAME) have proven to be susceptible to photocatalytic oxidation using TiO2 in a batch slurry process. The oxidation process are attributed to photocatalysis by ultra-violet (UV) light with pseudo first-order with rates for MTBE, 1.2 x 10-3 s-1, ETBE, 4.63 x 10-4 s-1 and TAME, 5.63 x 10-4 s-1 being observed. Using a batch slurry process incorporating a borosilicate filter that eliminated UV light of less than 290 nm, rate constant for degradation for MTBE, 4.2 x 10-4 s-1, ETBE, 4.63 x 10-4 s-1 and TAME, 7.72 x 10-4 s-1 were now observed, comparable with those seen previously. When filters are added that eliminate all UV light below 375 nm, no reaction is observed indicating that the reaction is energized by light of 300 – 375 nm. Using this process, other organic compounds, di-isopropyl ether (DIPE) and1,4-Dioxane, also proved to be susceptible photocatalytic oxidation under these conditions. Using this information, a batch slurry reactor was designed incorporating borosilicate containers using TiO2 as catalyst and a simple oxygenation system and light source. This allowed the process to be quickly applied to a group of metabolic and pharmaceutical compounds of environmental concern to determine if they could similarly be oxidized. The results showed that caffeine, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, sulfanilamide and tetracycline all showed photocatalytic activity and are therefore susceptible to oxidative photocatalytic degradation.

Photocatalytic oxidation of water soluble organic and pharmaceutical compounds using visible/near uv light

255th National Meeting (2018)

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