Solar Photocatalytic Treatment of Pharmaceutical Wastewater

The objective of the final year project is to provide an alternative for treating
pharmaceutical wastewater using solar photocatalytic treatment. It has been demonstrated
that the solar photocatalytic method can be an alternative to conventional methods of
waste treatment which are much more complex and costly. The fact that the
semiconductor can be activated by sunlight greatly reduces the use of electric power and
hence the operating cost and time. Furthermore, the catalyst has the potential for reuse
and the catalyst use is safe and nontoxic. There were two batches of sample taken from a
pharmaceutical industry with initial chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 446 and· 2052
mg/L. In the experiment, various dosage of zinc oxide was used, from !giL to 5g/L. The
use of3g/L zinc oxide resulted in around 70% and 24% of COD reduction when exposed
to sunlight (0.75-0.1 kW/m2
) for 150 minutes, respectively. However, the results
achieved was not as expected and did not meet the requirement the Malaysian discharge
standard A and B. Several alternatives and improvements are listed to improve and
achieve the objective of the project.