Abstract:
This research was to study the photocatalytic activity of three different metal oxide catalysts, namely MCM-41, TS-1, and bismuth titanate (Bi[subscript 12]TiO[subscript 20]) in the reactive black 5 dye solution and the waste water obtained from a dye industry. These catalysts were synthesized using silatrane, titanium glycolate and bismuth nitrate precursors. The degradation process was first studied in the reactive black 5 dye model. The parameters in this study were pH, amounts of H[subscript 2]O[subscript 2] and Ti-loading in zeolite structure while fixing the organic dye at 40 ppm. At pH3, all three catalysts showed high photocatalytic activity. The higher amount of H[subscript 2]O[subscript 2] resulted in the higher photocalytic activity. The decoloration and the percent of mineralization increased with the higher Ti-content. The carbon reduction reached 79% using MCM-41 as catalyst, 65% for TS-1 and 35% for bismuth titanate, respectively. In the real wastewater obtained from Thanakul Dyeing And Printing Co., Ltd., it was found that all the three catalysts showed promising activity results. Moreover, in the case of using MCM-41 as catalyst, the carbon reduction reached 16% with respect to the initial carbon content. The results are very satisfying since the catalysts can oxidize non-pretreated-wastewater from industries under a mild condition.
