Evaluation of bisphenol A pollutant removal efficiency by nano photocatalytic method in solar reactor (UVA and CPC) and reactor UVC

Bisphenol A (BPA) and its derivatives have extensive applications as lubricants and polymer stabi-lizers and components of photographic developers. In this study, the photo catalytic degradation of bisphenol A (BPA) was studied on ZnO nanoparticles coated on a fixed bed which was treated in two light sources including ultraviolet-C (UVC-254 nm) and natural solar in compound par-abolic concentrators (CPC). Characterization of the ZnO nanoparticles samples was performed by field-emission scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, ultraviolet-visible (UV-VIS) spectro-photometer, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller measurements. The highest photocatalytic and photoly-sis activity for the degradation of BPA has been obtained for the ZnO/UVC and UVC with 99% and 40% efficiencies in 120 min. Also, the highest photocatalytic and photolysis activity for the degra-dation of BPA has been obtained for the CPC reactor and 97% and 31% efficiency in 120 min. The photocatalytic degradation reaction of BPA was monitored by high-performance liquid chroma-tography, total organic carbon, and gas chromatography/mass (GC-MASS) analyses. The results of GC-MASS analysis show that the degradation of BPA occurs through the production of glycolic acid, benzoic acid, and vinyl phenol products and its decomposition occurs by ring fission and then subsequent reactions with OH radicals. These results show that the photo catalytic degradation of solar light and UV has high efficiency in BPA removal as well as effluent mineralization.