PHOTOCATALYTIC DEGRADATION OF TEXTILE WASTEWATER USING DATE SEED POWDER AND TITANIUM DIOXIDE AS A PHOTOCATALYST.

ABSTRACT

Textile wastewater is one of the most toxic wastewater generated in industries, due to its complexity and recalcitrance to most wastewater treatment methods. This study is done with the aim of investigating the potential use of modified and unmodified date seed powder – TiO2 as photocatalysts in the photocatalytic degradation of textile wastewater. The study utilizes a photocatalytic reactor for the degradation process, exploring the optimum conditioons for the photocatalytic degradation process such as photocatalyst dosage (0.5g to 2.5g), contact time (30 to 120minutes) and pH (4 to 9). The reaction was also carried out in the dark to determine if it was actually adsorption that occurred. The rate and nature of the adsorption process was analysed using three kinetic models: pseudofirst order, pseudo-second order and intra particle diffusion model. The results showed optimum values for the process at maximum efficiency: photocatalyst dosage of 1.5g/L gave the best degradation efficiency 61.64% for the unmodified date seed-TiO2 while 2.5g/L gave the best efficiency 50.46% for modified date seed-TiO2. A pH of 9 gave the best efficiency at 80.5% and contact time of 120 mins gave 95.28%. Upon carrying out the reaction in the dark, the unmodified date seed- TiO2 gave an efficiency of 92.36% while the modified date seed- TiO2 gave an efficiency of 90.76%. A pH of 9 gave the best degradation effiency at 94.21%, while a contact time of 120mins gave a 95.66% degradation efficiency. The Pseudo-second order kinetic model was the best fit for the adsorption process (r2 = 0.9981). This study has demonstrated that the low cost photocatalyst, date seed powder-TiO2 can be used as a photocatalyst in the treatment of textile wastewater.