Degradation of surfactant wastewater under microwave irradiation in the presence of activated carbon assisted with nano-sized TiO₂ or nano-sized ZnO

An improved method treating surfactant wastewater by the addition of semiconductor material such as nano-sized TiO₂ or ZnO to activated carbon (AC) with microwave (MW) irradiation was proposed so as to assist efficient degradation of organic pollutants. A series of degradation experiments of sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) were carried out under MW irradiation in the presence of AC/TiO₂ or AC/ZnO. The influences of catalyst dose, irradiation time, initial SDBS concentration and solution acidity on the degradation were assessed in detail. The results showed that the addition of TiO₂ or ZnO obviously promoted the degradation and AC/TiO₂ system displayed higher catalytic activity under MW irradiation. Thus the method of MW irradiation with AC/TiO₂ or AC/ZnO revealed many advantages of rapid degradation rate, short irradiation time, low cost, no residual intermediates and no secondary pollution in applications.