Efficiency and Kinetics Studies of Photocatalytic Degradation of 4-Chlorophenol from Aqueous Solutions by Sunlight in the Presence of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles

4-chlorophenolisone of the phenol derivatives that enters the environment from various sources. 4-chlrophenol ranks the primary pollutant agent. This study evaluated the efficiency and kinetics of photocatalytic degradation of 4-chlorophenol from aqueous solutions by sunlight and zinc oxide nanoparticles.

This is an empirical study and Experiments were performed in the batch system. Determined dosage of ZnO nanoparticles was added to 4-chlorophenol solution (25-200ppm) and samples were allocated under the sunlight during midday hours in summer. Effects of parameters such as ZnO loading، pH، contact time and initial concentration of the polluter 4-chlrophenol were investigated. The remaining concentrations of 4-chlorophenol were analyzed using HPLC. Removal of total organic carbon was measured by TOC analyzer.

The results showed that removal efficiency of 4-chlorophenol was achieved 72%in presence of solar energy as means of energy source at both neutral and alkaline pH and catalyst dosage of 1. 5grL-1. Efficiency increased as increasing pH and contact time. The photocatalytic degradation of 4-chlrophenol was best fitted with Langmuir–Hinshelwood model، and can be described by pseudo-first order kinetic.

In general، 4-chlorophenols can be significantly degraded from aqueous solution by using sunlight as the energy source for the reaction and nano-sized zinc oxide as catalyst.