New Solar Photocatalytic Technologies for Water Purification as Support for the Implementation of Industry 4.0

Abstract

The main urgent problem of humanity is related to clean water availability. Shortage of drinking water in most parts of the world has been a growing concern in recent times. This chapter will consider emerging contaminants present in the aquatic environment. The commonly present concentrations are in the range from mg/L to ng/L in wastewater, surface water, ground water, and drinking water. The challenges in wastewater and drinking water purification are dependent on the origin of the water. Solar photocatalysis is a new promising technology for the water purification. With solar, photocatalysis is possible to reduce organic contaminants present in water by using the sunlight. This chapter addresses the fundamental reaction mechanism, different type of photocatalytic nanomaterials based on TiO2, and recent developments in the reactor design for solar photocatalytic water purification from lab scale-up to large-scale application.