Feasibility Studies on Solar Photo Degradation of Phenol

Solar Photo catalytic treatment process has shown great promise for the treatment of toxic compounds that exist in industrial wastewater. Complete destruction of the contaminant is possible using inexhaustible, free source of energy from sunlight thus consuming very less primary energy for its operation. Photocatalytic experiments were carried out using 15W UV lamp for degradation of phenol wastewater. The experiments were carried out with 0.2 g/L of TiO₂ catalyst and without addition of catalyst for different concentration of phenol ranging from 20, 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250ppm in both batch and circulation mode. It is found that complete degradation of phenol is possible in a reasonable time (i.e. less than 5 hrs) when concentration of phenol is ≤100 ppm. This observation is used for design of solar collectors and feasibility of using PV panel for supply of electricity to UV lamp is considered.