Hydrogen production affected by Pt concentration on TiO₂ produced from the incineration of dye wastewater flocculated sludge using titanium tetrachloride

Abstract

TiO₂ from the incineration of dye wastewater flocculated sludge using TiCl₄ coagulant was produced. Optimal catalyst amount and Pt-loading on TiO₂ were studied for the production of H₂ by photocatalytic reforming of methanol (6% vol.). On the other hand, BTSE (biologically treated sewage effluent) was flocculated using TiCl4 and produced sludge was incinerated to generate TiO₂. TiO₂ was loaded with optimum Pt and added to the supernatant in a photocatalytic reactor to test the efficiency of using remaining organics as a “sacrificial reagent” for photocatalytic hydrogen production. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and molecular weight distribution (MWD) were measured for nanofiltration (NF) and TiCl₄ flocculation followed by photocatalysis. TiO₂ (from the incineration of BTSE flocculated sludge using TiCl4) was produced and loaded with 0.5% Pt. Results showed that the optimum concentration of TiO₂ (from dye wastewater) for H₂ production was 0.3 g/L, while the optimum amount of Pt was 0.5%. DOC and MWD removal was similar for the flocculation of BTSE followed by photocatalytic reaction and the NF process. Remaining organic compounds after flocculation could not be used as sacrificial reagent to induce H₂ production. Further investigations on studying the UV intensity and/or identifying organic/inorganic scavengers to inhibit H₂ production are underway.

Keywords:

• Dye wastewater
• Hydrogen production
• Platinum
• Titanium dioxide