Determination of chemical oxygen demand of nitrogenous organic compounds in wastewater using synergetic photoelectrocatalytic oxidation effect at TiO2 nanostructured electrode

Chemical oxygen demand (COD) is one of the most important parameters in water quality assessment and monitoring. The natural degradation of nitrogenous organic compounds (NOCs) in water requires significant amounts of oxygen. In the determination of standard COD however, NOCs are persistent compounds that cannot be completely oxidized even in the most oxidative chemical environments, i.e. the reaction media that contain high concentrations of dichromate in strong acid at high temperature. Consequently, the measured COD values of wastewater samples containing NOCs are commonly lower than theoretical COD values and do not reflect the actual oxygen demand of the water body. This problem is partially alleviated when the photoelectrochemical method for COD determination (PeCOD) based on nanostructured TiO2 photoanode is utilized. To completely overcome this problem, a synergetic photoelectrochemical oxidation effect in thin layer cells is used to achieve complete oxidation of NOCs. This is done by the simple addition of a hydroxyl organic compound (i.e. glucose) into the test sample before the PeCOD measurement. Preliminary experimental results demonstrate that the synergetic PeCOD method provides an effective and reliable means to measure COD values of NOC-containing pollutants without the need for toxic or expensive reagents.

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► A synergetic photoelectrocatalytic oxidation effect is observed at TiO2 photoanodes.
► It assists the mineralization of nitrogenous organic compounds (NOCs).
► It facilitates the accurate measurement of COD of the NOCs-containing wastewater.