Abstract:
The chemical oxygen demand (COD) and phenol removal from pharmaceutical wastewater were investigated
using configuration of two circulation batch reactors in a series with ozonation and photocatalytic processes. The ozonation
is conducted with O3/granulated activated carbon (O3/GAC), whereas photocatalysis with TiO2 that immobilized on pumice
stone (PS-TiO2). The effect of circulation flow rate (10; 12; 15 L/min) and the amount PS-TiO2 (200 g, 250 g, 300 g) were
examined. Wastewater of 20 L was circulated pass through the pipe that injected with O3 by the ozone generator, and
subsequently flow through two GAC columns, and finally, go through photoreactor that contains photocatalyst PS-TiO2
which equipped with mercury lamp as a photon source. At a time interval, COD and phenol concentration were measured
to assess the performance of the process. FESEM imaging confirmed that TiO2 was successfully impregnated on PS, as
corroborated by EDX spectra. Meanwhile, degradation process indicated that the combined ozonation and photocatalytic
processes (O3/GAC-TiO2) is more efficient compared to the ozonation and photocatalysis alone. For combination process
with the circulation flow rate of 10 L/min and 300 g of PS-TiO2,the influent COD of around 1000 ppm are effectively
degraded to a final effluent COD of 290 ppm (71% removal) and initial phenol concentration of 4.75 ppm down to 0 ppm
for 4 h which this condition fulfill the discharge standards quality. Therefore, this portable prototype reactor is effective
that can be used in the pharmaceutical wastewater treatment. For the future, this process condition will be developed for
orientation on the industrial applications (portable equipment) since pharmaceutical industries produce wastewater
relatively in the small amount
