Heterogeneous photocatalytic degradation and hydrogen evolution from ethanolamine nuclear wastewater by a liquid phase plasma process

Abstract

Ethanolamine in a wastewater which is released from nuclear power plant was decomposed using a plasma discharged into the solution directly. Ni-TiO₂ supported on mesoporous materials were employed as a photocatalyst. The photocatalytic reaction using the liquid phase plasma led to a degradation of ethanolamine with hydrogen evolution, simultaneously. The ethanolamine in the wastewater was degraded over 90% on the photocatalytic decomposition reaction by irradiation of liquid phase plasma. The rate of hydrogen evolution increased significantly with Ni incorporation on TiO₂ because the bandgap was reduced with Ni incorporation on TiO₂. Incorporating Ni on TiO₂ nanocrystallites brought out an improvement of the ethanolamine degradation with hydrogen generation. The rate of hydrogen evolution in the ethanolamine-containing aqueous solution was increased in comparison with that in pure water. Additional hydrogen evolution by the photodecomposition of ethanolamine was attributed to the increasing H₂ production.

Keywords: Ethanolamine degradation; Hydrogen evolution; Liquid phase plasma; Photocatalysts; Wastewater.