Evaluation of UV/TiO2 Photo-Catalytic Process for Removing Humic Compounds from Water

Abstract

Humic compounds are among the most important natural organic matters (NOM) existing in water resources, and are known as one of the main disinfection by-product (DBP) precursors - particularly trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs) - which may act as health risk factors. The study objective is to investigate the UV/TiO2 photo-catalytic process in removing humic substances from water. It was conducted in a lab-scale batch photo-catalytic reactor using the experimental method. It may be concluded that the UV/TiO2 process can provide desirable drinking water quality in terms of humic substances, so this process was capable of decreasing 5 mg/L dissolved organic carbon to 0.394 mg/L in optimum conditions. The specific UV254 absorbance of 2.79 L/mg.m was attained by photo-catalytic first-order reaction having rate constant of 0.267 min(-1) after 90 minutes.