Photocatalytic degradation of endocrine disruptor compounds in water over immobilized TiO2 photocatalysts

Abstract

Recently, the fate of endocrine disruptors in environmentally relevant samples has attracted considerable attention. Semiconductor photocatalysis may offer an appealing methodology to treat such contaminants. In this respect, the simultaneous degradation of synthetic hormones employing UV irradiation and TiO2 as the photocatalyst was investigated. Our interest was focused on designing a photocatalytic reactor and finding a way to immobilize a powder photocatalyst by water-glass. The nanofiber powder photocatalyst NnF Ceram TiO2 was chosen as powder photocatalysts based on TiO2. The material was characterized by N-2 adsorption/desorption, XRD, UV-Vis spectrometry and TEM. The reaction kinetics of hormone decomposition corresponds to a first-order reaction rate. It was shown that progesterone and all types of estradiols were decomposed most effortlessly in the presence of NnF Ceram TiO2 photocatalysts. On the other hand, the lowest conversion was reached for estrone and estriol. The photocatalysts based on TiO2 immobilized by water-glass seems to be promising for photocatalytic water purification.