Catalysis Today, Vol.161, No.1, 110-114, 2011
Solar light-induced degradation of bisphenol-A with TiO2 immobilized on Ti
The photocatalytic degradation of bisphenol-A (BPA) was investigated over immobilized TiO2/Ti-film catalysts irradiated by artificial solar light. Catalysts were prepared either by a sol-gel method (TIP catalyst) or deposition of Degussa P-25 slurry (P-25 catalyst) and characterized by X-ray diffraction. The effect of TiO2 loading (0.65 and 1.3 mg), initial BPA concentration (150, 300 and 600 ppb) and initial solution pH (3, 6, 8 and 10) on degradation was studied. The latter was assessed following changes in BPA concentration by means of high performance liquid chromatography equipped with a fluorescence detector. It was found that both catalysts, consisting of about 75: 25 anatase: rutile, were equally active in degrading BPA (e. g. 85% reduction at 300 ppb BPA concentration, 180 min of reaction, 0.65 mg catalyst loading and inherent pH) and conversion increase with increasing the TiO2 loading; however, the P-25 catalyst was considerably unstable at high loadings suffering about 50% active phase dissolution. Conversion decreased with increasing BPA concentration and it was favored in the pH range 6-8. BPA degradation can be approached by a pseudo-first order rate expression with the apparent kinetic constant taking values between 6x10(-3) and 2x10(-2) s(-1). (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.