Photocatalytic Degradation of Textile Dyeing Wastewater Using Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide

Photodegradation of a real textile dyeing wastewater taken from Hilla textile factory in Babylon Governorate, Iraq have been investigated. Photocatalytic degradation was carried out over suspensions of titanium dioxide or zinc oxide under ultraviolet irradiation. Photodegradation percentage was followed spectrophometrically by the measurements of absorbance at lambda max equal to 380 nm. The rate of photodegradation increased linearly with time of irradiation when titanium dioxide or zinc oxide was used. A maximum color removal of 96% was achieved after irradiation time of 2.5 hours when titanium dioxide used at 303K and 82% color reduction was observed when zinc oxide used for the same period and at the same temperature. The effect of temperature on the efficiency of photodegradation of dyestuff was also studied. The activation energy of photodegradation was calculated and found to be equal to 21 +/- 1 kJ mol(-1) on titanium dioxide and 24 +/- 1 kJ mol(-1) on zinc oxide.