PHOTODEGRADATION OF DIISOPROPANOLAMINE USING MONO- AND BIMETALLIC Cu-Fe/Ti02 CATALYST UNDER VISIBLE LIGHT ILLUMINATION

Diisopropanolamine (DIP A) with the mixture of other solvent, in aqueous
solutions is frequently employed for removing carbon dioxide (C02) and hydrogen
sulfide (HzS) from sour gas. Contamination oflarge amount of DIP A into wastewater
stream occurs during turnaround activity where high pressure water jet is used to
clean the inside of absorption and desorption columns. The DIP A is not readily
biodegradable, thus such wastewater could not be treated via conventional treatment
system. Heterogeneous photocatalytic degradation system has shown impressive
performance in mineralization of various refractory organic pollutants. Semiconductor
materials are employed as photocatalyst where the system involves simple setup at
ambient condition. For present study, titanium dioxide (Ti02) photocatalyst were
synthesized employing microemulsion method. The TiOz was modified with metal
dopants (i.e Cu and/or Fe) to extend the light harvesting capacity of the photocatalyst
in visible region.