Preparation, Characterization and Application of Photocatalyst Doped Porous Carbon Electrodes for Degradation of Emerging Pollutants in Drinking Water

Water is the most important for the survival of all living organisms on earth and the provision of safe drinking water is gradually becoming a difficult task due to the myriad of toxic by-products being generated during water disinfection processes. The occurrence of these emerging pollutants in water has continued to attract significant scientific interest over the past years due to their toxic, carcinogenic and non-biodegradable nature. Among these classes of pollutants, halogenated disinfection by products (DBPs) and nitrosamines compounds are of great concern due to their frequent detection in chlorinated or chloraminated treated water. Among several methods reported in literature for their treatment in water, electrochemical method is often preferred due to its high efficiency, effectiveness, and eco-friendly nature. Transition metals-assisted photocatalysis is also gaining more importance for the degradation of water pollutants. However, its applicability is limited due to some significant challenges that include (i) selection of suitable photoactive catalyst, (ii) proper support to avoid the agglomeration of catalyst and (iii) reusability of catalyst. Use of high-surface area porous support that will enhance the dispersion of catalyst and improve the degradation efficiency of the photocatalyst is often sought after. Literature survey indicates insufficient research on the complete removal of emerging pollutants in drinking water such as halogenated compounds and N-nitrosamines via photodegradation approach. Given these facts, an attempt will be made in this research to prepare porous carbon material derived from asphalt as support for various photocatalysts loading. The prepared materials will be used for photo catalytic degradation of groups of trihalomethanes (THMs), haloacetic acids (HAAs) and N-nitrosamines (N-nitrosodiethylamine, N-nitrosodiethanolamine, N-nitrosomorpholine, N-nitrosodibutylamine N-nitrosodimethylamine, and N-nitrosopyrrolidine). In addition, the prepared carbon- photocatalyst will be coated on an electrode substrate to prepare photocatalyst electrodes which will subsequently be evaluated for photoelectrochemical treatment of the selected compounds. Characterization of the prepared material will be performed using FT-IR, XRD, SEM, TEM, and EDX techniques. The thermodynamics and kinetics parameters for treatment process will be also be determined. Finally, the developed methods will be available for the treatment of halogenated DBPs and N-nitrosamines in contaminated water of Saudi Arabia and other places of the world.