Photocatalyzed oxidation of alcohols for water purification

CHED 1115

David Huang, Phillip R. Burkholder, and John C. DiCesare, john-dicesare@utulsa.edu. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Tulsa, 600 S. College Ave, Tulsa, OK 74104
This research project is to develop a water reclamation system for use in long-term shuttle missions, such as NASA's planned mission to Mars. A side goal of this project is to develop a system which can be utilized on Earth as a water purification system. Our goal is to develop a silica pellet to be incorported into a packed-bed photoreactor. The silica/titania pellet will be capable of providing the titania photocatalyst sufficient contact with impurities in the water as well as allowing UV light penetration. The pellet design being analyzed is a capped pellet. Not only does this allow sufficient surface titania to be available to react, but it also allows more titania to be incorporated into the matrix without reducing UV penetration. Currently we are optimizing total titania composition and the percent coverage. Optimization is being tested by single and multi-pass systems and analyzed with a gas chromatograph. Currently all matrixes made are only active in the UV range of light.