Photocatalytic degradation of di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate adsorbed by chitin A

Abstract

Di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) is a ubiquitous environmental contaminant due to its extensive use as a plasticiser and its persistence. Currently, there is no cost-effective treatment method for its removal from industrial wastewater. In a previous study, DEHP was effectively adsorbed from aqueous solution by biosorption onto chitinous materials. Biosorption can pre-concentrate DEHP from the aqueous phase for further treatment. As biosorption cannot degrade DEHP, in this study the degradation (and detoxification) of DEHP adsorbed onto chitinous material by photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) is attempted. PCO relies on hydroxyl radical (∙OH), which is a strong oxidising agent, for the oxidative degradation of pollutants. It is a non-selective process which can degrade DEHP adsorbed onto chitinous material. The first part of this study is the optimisation of the degradation of adsorbed DEHP by PCO. Adsorption was carried out in the physicochemical conditions optimised in the previous study, with 500 mg/L chitin A and 40 mg/L DEHP at initial pH 2, 22±2 °C and 150 rpm agitation for 5 min. After optimisation of PCO, a 61% removal efficiency of 10 mg/L of DEHP was achieved within 45 min under 0.65 mW/cm2 of UV-A with 100 mg/L TiO2, and 10 mM of H2O2 at initial pH 12. The optimisation study showed that UV-A and TiO2 are essential for the degradation of DEHP by PCO. The degradation intermediates/products were identified by GC–MS analysis. GC–MS results showed that the di(2-ethylhexyl) side chain was first degraded, producing phthalates with shorter side chains. Further reaction produced phathalic anhydride and aliphatic compounds such as alkanol and ester. The toxicities of parental and degradation intermediates in the solution phase and on chitinous materials were followed by the Microtox® test. Results indicated that toxicity can be removed after 4 h treatment by PCO. Thus the decontamination of DEHP by integrating biosorption and PCO is feasible.