Abstract:
The treatment of wastewater and the development of catalystsusing photocatalytic reactors are rapidly growing areas of interest for both researchers and wastewater treatment technology.This thesis analyzes the role of photocatalytic technology in wastewater treatment; followed by a comprehensive discussion of photocatalytic reactor design from multiple perspectives, including photocatalyst selection, light source design, and controlof reaction conditions. Additionally, the cost of reactor design is considered. Additionally the cost of reactor design is considered. Finally,the optimizationstrategy of the designed photocatalytic reactor rig and the criteria for evaluating photocatalytic performance aresummarized. The main innovationof this thesis lies in a comprehensive analysis of thein-house design and construction of aphotocatalytic reactor, a cost-effective and high-performance solution with a focus on optimization of a laboratory-based photocatalytic reactor at NCE, BUET.
The reactor is housed in a metal cabinet, inside of which is a lamp and power supply. The vessels are integrated within a reactor scheme, which is sequentially connected to the chiller and air blower.To determine the schematic design of the reactor rig and electric circuit, solid Worksand Protious software are used and the construction process is followed by the creation of a flow chart.Regarding the performance evaluation, the photocatalytic reactor rig undergoes a sequence of dye degradation experiments,including experimental setup, dye and catalyst selection, reaction monitoring, and data analysis. The degradation studies were conducted without catalysts under UV-A and LED light individually, using double jacket and triple jacket immersion well beakers. The maximum dye degradation observed in 60 minutes was up to 17.52%, which is relatively low. Additionally, degradation analysis was conducted using a catalyst (TiO2) under UV-A and LED light individually, as well as in combination (i.e., UV-A plus LED lamp together), in double jacket and triple jacket immersion well beakers. The maximum dye degradation of up to 80% was observed after 60 minutes of irradiation. Significant degradation occurred with the combination of catalyst and light, with approximately 80 to 99.9% degradation of pollutants or dye noted in the triple jacket beaker.