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1. The aim and scope of the exercise, a precise description of the apparatus.

The aim and scope of the first exercise is to carry out the photocatalytic oxidation of phenol in
TiO2 suspension in a pilot installation followed by a spectrophotometric determination of phenol
concentration and calculation of mass balance.

We used a small scale. Instead of led lamps we use Mercury lamp which holds UV spectrum:

In our apparatus we prepare our suspension solution with 2 g of TiO2 per litre and 700 ml of our
contaminants where phenol is included.

The result is:

The solution is stirred, and we insert our mercury lamp the light that it emits is greenish blue.

The reactor should be covered with aluminium paper because UV light is released by the
mercury lamp and its rupture releases mercury vapor that increases the risk of mercury
poisoning. Toxic effects include damage to the brain, kidneys and lungs.
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After the first 10 minutes of reaction we collect a small amount of the suspension with a tube
and a syringe to check the pH of our solution. PH is constant during the whole reaction.

We transfer it to a beaker and we separate the photocatalyst from the phenol solution with a
small syringe with a filter making sure that no catalyst is collected. Then the collected solution
is transferred to a small container which then will be used for titration:

After all of this, we take small drops of the samplers and put into the spectrophotometer.
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2. Measurements results.

1𝐿 2 𝑔𝑟 𝑇𝑖02
• 700 𝑚𝐿 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 × × = 1,4 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑠 𝑇𝑖𝑂2
1000 𝑚𝐿 1𝐿

Concentration(ppm) Total volume (mL)

50 ppm 5 mL PhOh
40 ppm 4 mL PhOh + 1 mL H20
30 ppm 3 mL PhOh + 2 mL H20
20 ppm 2 mL PhOh + 3 mL H20
10 ppm 1 mL PhOh + 4 mL H20

*NOTE: The results of the spectrophotometer are below.

3. Determination of the calibration curve of the phenol solution (graph, necessary

calculations).

4. Mass balance of photocatalytic oxidation of phenol.

The initial concentration changed during the irradiation, at the beginning we had 50 ppm of
phenol. As time passed we observed how the phenol was decomposing.

With the last graph we obtained the regression equation, where y means absorbance and x the
concentration of phenol. We can calculate the real concentration of phenol during the
spectrophotometer:
𝑥 = 𝑦 ÷ 0.0215
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Time of irradiation (min) Concentration Absorbance
0 50,000 1,158
5 43,721 0,940
10 43,256 0,930
15 43,070 0,926
20 41,023 0,882
25 39,674 0,853
30 39,023 0,839

Discarding the accumulation, the mass balance of the whole experiment is F1=F2+D. Where
F1- input mass, ΔF- accumulated mass, F2- output mass, D – discomposed mass.

50 – 39.023 = 10,977 ppm

5.Conclusions

In this experiment, the effect of degradation by photocatalysis with Tio2 of phenol was studied, as we
can see derived to the mass balance a large amount of phenol decomposed, which means that the
experiment worked.

The photocatalytic activity of the catalysed degradation of phenol is in good agreement with its optical
properties (absorption capacity and intensity of fluorescence emission), while the optical properties are
derived from the state of the surface. In general, we believe that the photocatalytic activity is
determined by the absorption capacity of the light, the distribution of the catalyst, the capacity of
separation of the load and the efficiency of transfer of the catalyst. Therefore, the above experimental
phenomenon can be explained as: the greater the absorption capacity of the nano TiO2 light, the more
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the light generates more electron holes. In the calibration we can see that the coefficient R is 99%,
quite high therefore it can be considered correct and precise.