Study on the photocatalytic reduction of dichromate and photocatalytic oxidation of dichlorvos

In this paper, dichromate and dichlorvos are selected as the deputies of inorganic and organic pollutants, respectively, and TiO2/beads is used as a photocatalyst. The effects of various parameters, such as the amount of the photocatalyst, H2O2 concentration, metal ions, anions, pH value, and organic compounds on the photocatalytic reduction of dichromate and photocatalytic oxidation of dichlorvos are studied. From the studies, the differences of the parameters effect on the photocatalytic degradation of organic and inorganic pollutants are obtained. The results show that the optimum amount of the photocatalyst used is 6.0 g cm−3 for the photocatalytic reactions. With the addition of a small amount of H2O2, the photocatalytic reduction of dichromate is inhibited while the photocatalytic oxidation of dichlorvos is accelerated. With the addition of trace amounts of Fe3+ or Cu2+, both the reactions are accelerated, and with the addition of Zn2+ and Na+, no obvious effects on the reactions are observed. Acidic solution is favorable for the photocatalytic reduction of dichromate; and acidic and alkaline solutions are favorable for the photocatalytic oxidation of dichlorvos. Adding SO42-, the photocatalytic oxidation is accelerated and adding Cl− the reaction is inhibited; and with the addition of trace amounts of SO42-, Cl− and NO3-, no obvious effects on the photocatalytic reduction of dichromate are observed. With the addition of methanol and toluene, the photocatalytic reduction of dichromate is accelerated, and the photocatalytic oxidation of dichlorvos is inhibited. The possible roles of the additives on the reactions are also discussed.