Evaluation of UV-A and solar light photocatalytic hydrogen gas evolution from olive mill wastewater. (6th April 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Speltini, Andrea; Sturini, Michela; Maraschi, Federica; Dondi, Daniele; Fisogni, Gabriele; Annovazzi, Enrico; Profumo, Antonella; Buttafava, Armando
• Is Part Of: International journal of hydrogen energy. Volume 40:Number 12(2015)
• Page Start: 4303
• Page End: 4310
• Publication Date: 2015-04-06
• Subjects: Hydrogen as fuel -- Periodicals; Hydrogène (Combustible) -- Périodiques; Hydrogen as fuel; Periodicals; 665.81
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2015.01.182
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0360-3199

Abstract

<abstract xml:lang="en" abstract-type="author" id="abs0010"> <title id="sectitle0010">Abstract</title> <sec> <p id="abspara0010">This work presents the results obtained in using olive mill wastewater (OMW) as sacrificial agent for the photocatalytic H<sub>2</sub> evolution from water, at ambient temperature and pressure. The effects of irradiation time, catalyst amount, pH, and OMW concentration have been investigated. Under the best experimental conditions (4 h UV-A irradiation, 2 g L<sup>−1</sup> Pt/TiO<sub>2</sub>, OMW 3.3% v/v, COD 944 mg L<sup>−1</sup>, pH 3) up to 44 μmol H<sub>2</sub> were generated from aqueous samples. Consecutive irradiation cycles (4 × 4 h) on the same sample provided ca. 280 μmol H<sub>2</sub>, corresponding to 82% of the yield observed, under the same conditions and COD value, by using glucose as test sacrificial agent. H<sub>2</sub> evolution was strongly improved (+81%) by pre-treating OMW with magnesium silicate (125 g L<sup>−1</sup>, 6 h contact), achieving a production of ca. 80 μmol H<sub>2</sub> by 4 h UV-A irradiation. The possibility to exploit sunlight in the photocatalytic process was gained by using Eosin Y/Pt/TiO<sub>2</sub>. Under solar light the H<sub>2</sub> yield resulted to be 66% with respect to that obtained by UV-A radiation. Beside some general mechanistic aspects of the photocatalytic process, benefits and drawbacks in recycling OMW for photocatalytic H<sub>2</sub> evolution from water have been highlighted.</p> </sec> </abstract>