Abstract
This study focuses on modeling the photocatalytic treatment of beverage wastewater using modified and unmodified snail shells and floor tiles as photocatalysts via photocatalysis. investigating the effectiveness of catalysts in a batch slurry system activated by UV radiation from the sun to mineralize organic contaminants.
The methodology employs an advanced oxidation process (AOP) to treat effluent from a soft drink company. Examining various operational parameters such as exposure duration and catalyst concentration variations, the study determines the effectiveness of photocatalytic degradation in terms of chemical and biochemical oxygen demands using Lagergren pseudo first, second, and intra-particle diffusion kinetic reactions and the efficiency of photocatalytic degradation in terms of Chemical Oxygen Demand, Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD and COD) was measured using the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms. The physicochemical properties of the untreated beverage wastewater include a pH of 12.49, turbidity of 21 NTU, TDS of 323ppm, COD of 1840mg/l, BOD of 510.8mg/l, electrical conductivity of 646Ns/cm, and salinity of 158.7ppt.
The experimental results indicate that the optimal photocatalyst treatment dosage is 10g/l of unmodified/unactivated snail shell and floor tiles catalyst in 300mg/l of beverage wastewater over a five-hour exposure period, with degradation increasing linearly with exposure time and achieving maximal COD and BOD removal effectiveness of 88.47% and 92.37%, respectively. Evaluation of treatment conditions reveals that varying the concentration of photocatalyst from 2 to 10g under a fixed contact time of 5hrs results in significant reductions in COD and BOD values for both modified/activated and unmodified/unactivated catalysts. Notably, the physicochemical properties of the treated wastewater meet regulatory standards, suggesting its safe discharge into the ecosystem without adverse effects.
