Photocatalytic treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater using new multiwall-carbon nanotubes/TiO2/SiO2 nanocomposites

For the photocatalytic removal of bisphenol A (BPA) and carbamazepine (CBZ) from water solution a new multiwall-carbon nanotubes and TiO2/SiO2 nanocomposites (MWCNT-TiO2-SiO2) were applied. Nanocomposites with the addition of 0.15-17.8 wt% MWCNT show high potential for the removal of both pollutants. The starting concentration of each contaminant was halved during 20 min of UVA irradiation. The decomposition process of CBZ over investigated nanocomposites proceeded differently than it was observed for the classical photocatalyst P25. The kinetics of the removal followed as a pseudo-first order regime with the k1 in range 0.0827-0.1751 min−1 for BPA and 0.0131-0.0743 min−1 for CBZ. Toxicity to Vibrio fischeri and Daphnia magna was significantly reduced indicating formation of non-toxic products of photooxidation of tested contaminants.