Photocatalytic oxidation of volatile organic compounds present in airborne environment adjacent to sewage treatment plants

Emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from wastewater in municipal sewage or industrial wastewater treatment plants are often overlooked as sources of exposure to hazardous substances. The impact of such emissions on local airborne environments represents a growing source of scientific, toxicological and public health interest. Actually, VOCs are suspected to be quite dangerous for human health. Some of them belong to the family of odorous compounds and can cause serious annoyance in the neighbourhood of the emission sources. A way to remove VOCs released from sewers and wastewater treatment facilities could be to degrade them by photocatalytic oxidation. TiO₂-based photocatalysts are known to be efficient for this kind of application. In the present work TiO₂ P25 Degussa was deposited on glass supports. These materials were tested for the degradation of butanone-2 in a photocatalytic reactor. The influence of water vapour (relative humidity) was shown using the Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetic model.