Photo-Catalytic Activity Improvement for Organic Pollutant Removal in Wastewater using Zinc Oxide Quantum Dots: An Experimental and Modeling Study

Authors

  • Tarek M. Awwad Department of Civil Engineering, Engineering College, Northern Border University, Saudi Arabia | Department of Civil Engineering, Engineering College, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4687-3678
  • Shaaban M. Shaaban Department of Electrical Engineering, Engineering College, Northern Border University, Saudi Arabia | Department of Engineering Basic Science, Engineering College, Menofia University, Egypt
  • Ehab M. Ragab Department of Civil Engineering, Engineering College, Northern Border University, Saudi Arabia
  • Ahmed Mir Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Engineering College, Northern Border University, Saudi Arabia | Research Laboratory Process Engineering and Industrial Systems, National School of Engineers of Gabes, University of Gabes, Tunisia
Volume: 13 | Issue: 6 | Pages: 12138-12144 | December 2023 | https://doi.org/10.48084/etasr.6451

Abstract

Photo-catalyst nanoparticles (NPs) find applications in many diverse fields, including environmental remediation, energy conversion, and organic synthesis. By optimizing the nanoparticle's composition, size, morphology, and surface properties, the photo-catalytic performance can be enhanced to develop more efficient and sustainable catalytic systems. This work aligns with this innovative approach and aims to improve the photo-catalytic degradation of Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) through the intensification of the photo-catalyst and the micro-reactor. ZnO-NPs were synthesized using the sol-gel method. Zinc Acetate (Z.A) and sodium hydroxide were used as precursor materials. The resulting ZnO-NPs were characterized for their structure and crystallinity using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and the photo-catalytic activity was assessed with a micro-structured polymer reactor. The degradation of SMX through photo-catalysis proceeds through several stages that involve coupled processes, such as the transportation of molecules and chemical reactions. To solve the mathematical equations governing the transport and photocatalytic reaction, COMSOL Multiphysics software was utilized. The characterization results demonstrate the excellent crystallinity and high purity of the synthesized ZnO-NPs, enabling the estimation of the average diameter of the NPs under different synthesis conditions. The grain growth is faster (3.5 hr) at higher temperatures (70, 80, and 90 °C), and slower (4 hr) at lower temperatures (50 and 60°C). The photo-catalytic degradation is significantly more efficient on 16 nm ZnO-NPs than 50 nm ZnO-NPs. At this size, the conversion rate reaches 96%, surpassing the performance of commercial ZnO-NPs, which only degrades 81% of SMX. The conversion rate obtained through simulation is slightly higher than that achieved in the experiments. However, this difference remains negligible, and overall, the model fits well with the experimental data. This validation of the chosen model confirms its reliability and accuracy.

Keywords:

ZnO nanoparticles, sulfamethoxazole (SMX), sol-gel method, characterization, microreactor, modeling, 20-sim simulation

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

N. Akhtar, M. I. Syakir Ishak, S. A. Bhawani, and K. Umar, "Various Natural and Anthropogenic Factors Responsible for Water Quality Degradation: A Review," Water, vol. 13, no. 19, Jan. 2021, Art. no. 2660.

M. V. Japitana and M. E. C. Burce, "A Satellite-based Remote Sensing Technique for Surface Water Quality Estimation," Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 3965–3970, Apr. 2019.

N. Morin-Crini et al., "Worldwide cases of water pollution by emerging contaminants: a review," Environmental Chemistry Letters, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 2311–2338, Aug. 2022.

Y. Chen, L. Song, Y. Liu, L. Yang, and D. Li, "A Review of the Artificial Neural Network Models for Water Quality Prediction," Applied Sciences, vol. 10, no. 17, Jan. 2020, Art. no. 5776.

A. Saravanan et al., "Effective water/wastewater treatment methodologies for toxic pollutants removal: Processes and applications towards sustainable development," Chemosphere, vol. 280, Oct. 2021, Art. no. 130595.

M. Godoy and J. Sanchez, "Antibiotics as Emerging Pollutants in Water and Its Treatment," in Antibiotic Materials in Healthcare, V. Kokkarachedu, V. Kanikireddy, and R. Sadiku, Eds. Cambridge, MA, United States: Academic Press, 2020, pp. 221–230.

E. Mendez, M. A. Gonzalez-Fuentes, G. Rebollar-Perez, A. Mendez-Albores, and E. Torres, "Emerging pollutant treatments in wastewater: Cases of antibiotics and hormones," Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A, vol. 52, no. 3, pp. 235–253, Feb. 2017.

E. Y. Klein et al., "Global increase and geographic convergence in antibiotic consumption between 2000 and 2015," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 115, no. 15, pp. E3463–E3470, Apr. 2018.

Q. Yang et al., "Antibiotics: An overview on the environmental occurrence, toxicity, degradation, and removal methods," Bioengineered, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 7376–7416, Jan. 2021.

A. Z. Al-Khazaal, F. Ahmad, and N. Ahmad, "Study on the Removal of Thiosulfate from Wastewater by Catalytic Oxidation," Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 4053–4056, Apr. 2019.

Y. Deng and R. Zhao, "Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) in Wastewater Treatment," Current Pollution Reports, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 167–176, Sep. 2015.

J. A. Garrido-Cardenas, B. Esteban-Garcia, A. Aguera, J. A. Sanchez-Perez, and F. Manzano-Agugliaro, "Wastewater Treatment by Advanced Oxidation Process and Their Worldwide Research Trends," International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 17, no. 1, Jan. 2020, Art. no. 170.

H. Wang et al., "A review on heterogeneous photocatalysis for environmental remediation: From semiconductors to modification strategies," Chinese Journal of Catalysis, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 178–214, Feb. 2022.

S. Gisbertz and B. Pieber, "Heterogeneous Photocatalysis in Organic Synthesis," ChemPhotoChem, vol. 4, no. 7, pp. 456–475, 2020.

M. M. Nadareishvili, G. Mamniashvili, D. Jishiashvili, G. Abramishvili, C. Ramana, and J. Ramsden, "Investigation of the Visible Light-Sensitive ZnO Photocatalytic Thin Films," Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 5524–5527, Apr. 2020.

O. Herrfurth, E. Kruger, S. Blaurock, H. Krautscheid, and M. Grundmann, "Hot-phonon effects in photo-excited wide-bandgap semiconductors," Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, vol. 33, no. 20, Dec. 2021, Art. no. 205701.

H. S. Jarusheh, A. Yusuf, F. Banat, M. A. Haija, and G. Palmisano, "Integrated photocatalytic technologies in water treatment using ferrites nanoparticles," Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, vol. 10, no. 5, Oct. 2022, Art. no. 108204.

A. Bassi and I. Hasan, "A review on nanoparticles as photo catalyst for the treatment of wastewater," AIP Conference Proceedings, vol. 2735, no. 1, Sep. 2023, Art. no. 030001.

K. Khan et al., "Recent Progress, Challenges, and Prospects in Two-Dimensional Photo-Catalyst Materials and Environmental Remediation," Nano-Micro Letters, vol. 12, no. 1, Aug. 2020, Art. no. 167.

A. Das and M. K. Adak, "Photo-catalyst for wastewater treatment: A review of modified Fenton, and their reaction kinetics," Applied Surface Science Advances, vol. 11, Oct. 2022, Art. no. 100282.

T. Makropoulou, I. Kortidis, K. Davididou, D. E. Motaung, and E. Chatzisymeon, "Photocatalytic facile ZnO nanostructures for the elimination of the antibiotic sulfamethoxazole in water," Journal of Water Process Engineering, vol. 36, Aug. 2020, Art. no. 101299.

O. Mertah, A. Gomez-Aviles, A. Slassi, A. Kherbeche, C. Belver, and J. Bedia, "Photocatalytic degradation of sulfamethoxazole with Co-CuS@TiO2 heterostructures under solar light irradiation," Catalysis Communications, vol. 175, Feb. 2023, Art. no. 106611.

F. Beheshti, R. M. A. Tehrani, and A. Khadir, "Sulfamethoxazole removal by photocatalytic degradation utilizing TiO2 and WO3 nanoparticles as catalysts: analysis of various operational parameters," International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 16, no. 12, pp. 7987–7996, Dec. 2019.

S. Mustapha et al., "Comparative study of crystallite size using Williamson-Hall and Debye-Scherrer plots for ZnO nanoparticles," Advances in Natural Sciences: Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, vol. 10, no. 4, Aug. 2019, Art. no. 045013.

A. Asadi, A. Larimi, and A. Naderifar, "Modeling and simulation of photoreactor for photocatalytic conversion of CO 2 into methanol," in 11 th International Chemical Engineering Congress & Exhibition, Fouman, Iran, Apr. 2020, pp. 1–6.

A. Yusuf et al., "Modelling of a recirculating photocatalytic microreactor implementing mesoporous N-TiO2 modified with graphene," Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 391, Jul. 2020, Art. no. 123574.

M. Bandeira, M. Giovanela, M. Roesch-Ely, D. M. Devine, and J. da Silva Crespo, "Green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles: A review of the synthesis methodology and mechanism of formation," Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy, vol. 15, Mar. 2020, Art. no. 100223.

E. Moyen, J. H. Kim, J. Kim, and J. Jang, "ZnO Nanoparticles for Quantum-Dot-Based Light-Emitting Diodes," ACS Applied Nano Materials, vol. 3, no. 6, pp. 5203–5211, Jun. 2020.

T. Ahmed and T. Edvinsson, "Optical Quantum Confinement in Ultrasmall ZnO and the Effect of Size on Their Photocatalytic Activity," The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, vol. 124, no. 11, pp. 6395–6404, Mar. 2020.

M. R. Islam, M. Rahman, S. F. U. Farhad, and J. Podder, "Structural, optical and photocatalysis properties of sol–gel deposited Al-doped ZnO thin films," Surfaces and Interfaces, vol. 16, pp. 120–126, Sep. 2019.

F. M. Sanakousar, C. C. Vidyasagar, V. M. Jimenez-Perez, and K. Prakash, "Recent progress on visible-light-driven metal and non-metal doped ZnO nanostructures for photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants," Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing, vol. 140, Mar. 2022, Art. no. 106390.

Downloads

How to Cite

[1]
Awwad, T.M., Shaaban, S.M., Ragab, E.M. and Mir, A. 2023. Photo-Catalytic Activity Improvement for Organic Pollutant Removal in Wastewater using Zinc Oxide Quantum Dots: An Experimental and Modeling Study. Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research. 13, 6 (Dec. 2023), 12138–12144. DOI:https://doi.org/10.48084/etasr.6451.

Metrics

Abstract Views: 327
PDF Downloads: 317

Metrics Information

Most read articles by the same author(s)