ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Photocatalytic Process Optimization
by Numerical Simulation Based on the Removal
Efficiency of Carbamazepine under Different
Operating Conditions
More details
Hide details
1
College of Agricultural Science and Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China
2
College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China
3
Central and Southern China Municipal Engineering Design & Research Institute Co. Ltd., Wuhan, 430000, China
4
Yellow River Institute of Hydraulic Research, Zhengzhou 450003, China
5
College of Public Administration, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China
Submission date: 2020-07-04
Final revision date: 2020-09-16
Acceptance date: 2020-09-26
Online publication date: 2021-01-29
Publication date: 2021-03-08
Corresponding author
Qian Feng
College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China, China, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2021;30(3):2013-2025
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Carbamazepine as a typical ingredient in pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) cannot
be removed by conventional wastewater treatment processes due to its biorefractory property. In this
paper, the effects of photocatalytic operating conditions of wastewater treatment such as stirring speed,
composite material dosage, light intensity, and irradiation time on the degradation of carbamazepine by
ATC were studied. Considering the aspects of technology, economy, and environment, the photocatalytic
process scheme was optimized for carbamazepine wastewater treatment using ATC. The results were
analyzed and simulated by response surface methodology (RSM). The effects of various factors and
their interactions on the treatment efficiency were analyzed using a multiple quadratic regression
equation, by which the optimal process parameters and the process conditions with optimal response
were achieved. Under low material dosage (less than 2 g/L), the pair-wise interactions among irradiation
time, light intensity, and stirring speed contributed more to the treatment efficiency than medium
(2 g/L to 4 g/L) or high (more than 4 g/L) material dosage. The operation cost under low material
dosage was relatively low, which shows that material cost is one of the most important factors in the
actual photocatalytic process.