Evaluation of the photo-catalytic degradation of pyrene using Fe-doped TiO2 in presence of UV

The oil-based compounds are widely used in modern human life, and the accidental release or leakage of these compounds is led to water and soil pollution and creates many problems for the environment. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficiency of photo-catalytic degradation of pyrene using Fe-doped TiO2 in the presence of UV. This experimental study was carried out at laboratory scale in a 2 L pilot reactor. The nanoparticle was synthesized by the sol-gel method. Pyrene degradation was investigated under different conditions of pH, reaction time, nanoparticle concentration and pollutant concentration. For the statistical analysis, SPSS V.16 software and one-way analysis of variance were used. The results showed that the optimum values of studied variables were as follows: pH = 9, contact time = 45 min, initial concentration of pyrene = 25 mg/L and nanoparticle dosage = 150 mg/L. It was also observed that the highest pyrene degradation efficiency was 98.66%. The obtained results suggested that the photo- catalytic process using the doped nanoparticle revealed the excessive potential to remove and to mineralize the oil-based pollutants, and it can be considered an effective alternative for this purpose.