Treatment of real industrial wastewaters through nano-TiO2 and nano-Fe2O3 photocatalysis: Case study of mining and kraft pulp mill effluents.

Abstract

Over the last few decades, high quantities of industrial wastewaters containing a wide range of organic and inorganic pollutants are being directly discharged into the environment, sometimes without proper treatment. Many of these contaminants have been described as causing significant effects on the environment, especially after cumulative discharges. In this scenario, nanotechnology has a tremendous potential, due to the unique properties of the new produced nanomaterials (NMs), such as surface area, adsorptivity and photocatalytic potential, which can improve the existing treatments or even develop new treatment solutions. In this study, nano-TiO2 or nano-Fe2O3 were used for the photocatalytic treatment of two real hazardous wastewaters, kraft pulp mill effluent and mining effluent. The experiments with the organic effluent lead to reduction percentages of 93.3%, 68.4% and 89.8%, for colour, aromatic compounds and chemical oxygen demand, respectively, when treated with nano-TiO2/H2O2/UV and nano-Fe2O3/H2O2/UV, at pH 3.0. Significant removal of metals from the mining effluent was recorded but only for Zn, Al and Cd, being the highest removal attained with 1.0 g L(-1) of nano-TiO2/UV and nano-Fe2O3/UV. Regarding the toxicity of the organic effluent to Vibrio fischeri, it was reduced with the treatments combining the oxidant and the catalyst. However, for the inorganic effluent, the best reduction was achieved using 1.0 g L(-1) of catalyst. In fact, the increase in dose of the catalyst, especially for nano-TiO2, enhanced toxicity reduction. Our results have shown that the use of these NMs seemed to be more effective in the organic effluent than in metal-rich effluent.