PHOTOCATALYTIC DECOMPOSITION OF GASEOUS TOLUENE BY TI02 NANOPARTICLES COATED ON ACTIVATED CARBON

Volatile organic compounds are considered as a group of major environmental pollutants and toluene isrecognized as one of the representatives. in this research. the photocatalytic activity for toluene removalwas studied over ti02 nanoparticles embeded on activated carbon. laboratory-scale experiments wereconducted in a fixed-bed reactor equipped with 4 wand 8 w uv lamps (peak wavelength at 365 nm) todetermine the oxidation rates of toluene. the photocatalyst was extensively characterizedby means of xraydiffraction and scan electronmicroscopy. experiments were conducted under general laboratorytemperature (25c±2) while the irradiation was provided by the uv lamps. the dependence of thereaction rate on light intensity as well as the deactivation of the catalyst were determined. the resultsindicated that the rate of the photocatalytic process increased with increasing the intensity of uvirradiation. using the uv-a lamps, the decomposition rate of toluene was 98% the stabilizedphotocatalyst presented remarkable stability (no deactivation and excellent repeatability). the catalystcould be regenerated by uv irradiation in the absence of gas phase. the control experiments confirmedthat the photocatalytic effects of toluene onto the ti02/activated carbon catalysts in the dark conditionswere negligible. reproducibility tests proved that the photocatalytic activity of the photocatalyst remainsintact even after several experiments of new added toluene quantities. the study demonstrated that thetio,lactivated carbon catalyst may be a practical and promising way to degrade the toluene underultraviolet irradiation.