Efficiency Comparison of TiO2-Coated Pine Wood, Bamboo and Coconut Shell Charcoals in Real Textile Wastewater Decolorization

Abstract

The photocatalytic decolorization of real textile wastewater using pine wood (PW), bamboo (BB) and coconut shell (CS) charcoals TiO₂-coated under UV irradiation were investigated. Biomass charcoals TiO₂-coated were synthesized by the sol-gel and dip-coating technique. The structure features of biomass charcoals TiO₂-coated were investigated by X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Our finding indicated that XRD data characteristic anatase phase reflections and SEM showed that TiO₂ thin films distributed in the pores and cover on biomass charcoals. BB-TiO₂ and CS- TiO₂ showed high covering films of TiO₂ on surface and filled full in the small pores but PW- TiO₂ still had many large pores. Decolorization of real textile wastewater using photocatalytic process was measured by Space Unit Method; S.U. with UV-VIS spectrophotometer. The photocatalytic tests indicated that decolorization of biomass-TiO₂ were CS-TiO₂, BB-TiO₂ and PW-TiO₂, respectively. Details of the synthesis of biomass charcoals TiO₂-coated and results of the characterization and decolorization studies are presented in this paper.