Techno-economic studies for a pilot-scale Bi12TiO20 based photocatalytic system for pharmaceutical wastewater treatment: From laboratory studies to commercial-scale applications. (August 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Baaloudj, Oussama; Badawi, Ahmad K.; Kenfoud, Hamza; Benrighi, Yasmine; Hassan, Raouf; Nasrallah, Noureddine; Assadi, Aymen Amine
• Is Part Of: Journal of water process engineering. Volume 48(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-08
• Subjects: Pharmaceutical wastewater -- Photocatalysis -- Cost evaluation -- Antibiotic degradation; Water-supply engineering -- Periodicals; Saline water conversion -- Periodicals; Seawater -- Distillation -- Periodicals; Sanitary engineering -- Periodicals; Sewage -- Purification -- Periodicals; 627
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jwpe.2022.102847
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2214-7144

Abstract

Abstract: This work proposes an appropriate method for cleaning pharmaceutical wastewater from hazardous compounds like cephalosporin and also conducts innovative full design criteria for commercial-scale applications associated with full economic evaluation. The sillenite Bi12 TiO20 (BTO) was used as a catalyst in this approach, and it was chosen based on previous studies. First, the BTO catalyst was characterized and tested before proposing it as an alternative solution. The catalyst BTO has been characterized using various characterization techniques such as XRD, TEM, BET, XPS and DRS. This catalyst was found to be a nanoparticles sillenite type with a space group cubic structure type I23 agglomerated in grains form with particle size around 3–15 μm and a surface area of 8.84 m 2 /g; its bandgap was found to be at ~2.9 eV. After characterization, the catalyst BTO was tested for the removal of three different antibiotics, which are Cefixime (CFX), Cefaclor (CFC), Cefuroxime (CFRM), and it has shown efficient photocatalytic activity with rates of 94%, 81%, and 69.71% within 210 min for CFX, CFC and CFRM; respectively. After that, a photocatalytic treatment system was proposed as a large scale of the previous process. An integrated economic assessment for treating 1 L/min antibiotic polluted effluents using this pilot scale design was presented to examine the system's commercial potential. The findings of batch experimental testing and pilot-scale designs proved the viability of employing BTO sillenite in a large-scale demonstration for pharmaceutical wastewater treatment as a sustainable and cost-effective photocatalytic system. Graphical abstract: Unlabelled Image Highlights: Pure Bi12 TiO20 nanoparticles were successfully synthesized and used as photocatalysts. This catalyst was found to be in grains form with a surface area of 8.84 m 2 /g. The electronic state of the catalyst structure has been studied using XPS analysis. Significant degradation of cephalosporins has been achieved by using this photocatalyst. A fully designed stirred photocatalytic reactor has been proposed with its economic evaluation.