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Wen's Research Group
Wen Zhang, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE
Principal Investigator
Professor
Phone: (973) 596-5520
Fax: (973) 596-5790
Email: wen.zhang@njit.edu
Office Location: Colton Hall 211
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Experimental and Computational Assessment of 1,4-Dioxane Degradation in a Photo-Fenton Reactive Ceramic Membrane Filtration Process
1,4-Dioxane is a micropollutant with carcinogenic potential and has increasing environmental concerns due to its wide presence in water environments. Researchers from Qingdao University of Technology and New Jersey Institute of Technology investigated the effect of a photo-Fenton reactive membrane on 1,4-Dioxane removal performance. The membrane was prepared by covalently coating photocatalyst of goethite (α-FeOOH) on a ceramic porous membrane as we reported previously. The effects of UV irradiation, H2O2 and catalyst on the removal efficiency of 1,4-Dioxane in batch reactors were first evaluated for optimized reaction conditions, followed by a systematical investigation of 1,4-Dioxane removal in the photo-Fenton membrane filtration mode. Under optimized conditions, the 1,4-Dioxane removal rate reached up to 16% with combination of 2 mmol/L H2O2 and UV365 irradiation (2000 µW/cm2) when the feed water was filtered by the photo-Fenton reactive membrane at a hydraulic retention time of 6 min. The removal efficiency and apparent quantum yield (AQY) were both enhanced in the filtration compared to the batch mode of the same photo-Fenton reaction. Moreover, the proposed degradation pathways were analyzed by density functional theory (DFT) calculations, which provided a new insight into the degradation mechanisms of 1,4-Dioxane in photo-Fenton reactions on the functionalized ceramic membrane.