Photocatalytic Degradation of Atenolol by Using Tio2 Catalysts under Solar Irradiation

Several processes in the pharmaceutical industry require large amounts of water that inevitably are contaminated. Pharmaceuticals are often not completely removed in sewage treatment plants and, therefore, are emitted into receiving water systems. Recently, the use of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) for complete destruction of contaminants has been popular. AOPs are based on the production of reactive species such as hydroxyl radicals that oxidized a wide range of organic pollutants quickly and non-selectively.AOPs include photocatalytic systems like the combination of semiconductor and lighting, and oxidants. Photocatalytic process as anenvironmentally friendly process has considerable advantages over some existing technologies;can be carried out under ambient conditions (atmospheric oxygen is used as oxidant and solar light can be used as light source) and usually leads to complete mineralization of organic pollutants into CO2 and H2O. This study focuses on the removal of the pharmaceutical Atenolol (ATL) by TiO2photocatalysis. Operating factors such as initial concentration, photocatalyst dosage, and pH solution were investigated in order to evaluate the extent of mineralization.