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Development of Recirculating Photocatalytic Reactor with TiO<inf>2</inf> Supported on Post-consumption Polystyrene Film: Evaluation of Hazardous Food Colorants Degradation

Abstract:

This paper describes the development of a recirculating photocatalytic reactor with UV-C radiation and TiO2 supported on polystyrene films obtained from post-consumer packaging. The dye mixture of brilliant blue and erythrosine used in the food industry was treated by UV/H2O2, UV/H2O2/TiO2-suspension, and UV/H2O2/TiO2-supported processes. The degradation kinetics was evaluated, and models with which to pbkp_redict the concentration of the dye mixture were proposed. A degradation of 100% was achieved after 390 min for 9.2 mmol∙L−1 of H2O2 when using the TiO2 supported (333 mg∙L−1). The catalytic and non-catalytic mathematical models had a good fit for the experimental data, in the case of the recirculating photocatalytic reactor operating a first-order catalytic reaction. The values of the reaction rate constant for the models were 0.0107 ± 0.0054, 0.0178 ± 0.0011, and 0.0341 ± 0.0017 mgdyes∙L−1∙m2∙W−1∙min−1 for the UV/H2O2, UV/H2O2/TiO2-suspension and UV/H2O2/TiO2-supported processes, respectively. The good performance of the reactor developed suggests that it could be used in the degradation of organic components. TiO2 supported on post-consumer polystyrene packaging eliminates the need for the separation step after treatment, thus making it a low-cost process and reducing losses. The material used as a support is an easily available residue. Thus, it can be concluded that the photocatalytic reactor developed is a good alternative for the treatment of food dyes on aqueous media.