Membrane vis-LED photoreactor for simultaneous penicillin G degradation and TiO2 separation

The hybrid membrane photoreactor (MPR) combining a photoreactor irradiated with visible-light-emitting diode (vis-LED) and a cross-flow microfiltration (MF) membrane module was investigated in both closed-loop and continuous flow-through modes for the simultaneous degradation of penicillin G (PG) and separation of visible-light responsive TiO(2) particles, namely C-sensitized-N-doped TiO(2) (T300) and C-N-S tridoped TiO(2) (T0.05-450). The turbidity of permeate water was <0.2 NTU for both T300 and T0.05-450 suspensions in the MPR system operated at different transmembrane pressures (TMPs) and cross-flow velocities (CFVs), indicating effective separation of TiO(2) particles by the MF membrane. The operations at a higher TMP or lower CFV were more prone to induce TiO(2) deposition on the membrane surface without backwashing, which resulted in the membrane fouling, the loss of TiO(2) from the photoreactor and the decrease of PG photocatalytic degradation efficiency. 75% and 84% of PG were degraded in the closed-loop MPR without backwashing operated at 10 kPa and 0.15 m s(-1) after 4 h of vis-LED irradiation using 1.0 g L(-1) of T300 and T0.05-450, respectively. With backwashing of the membrane, the PG photocatalytic degradation efficiencies in the closed-loop MPR could be significantly enhanced to achieve 93% and 95% using 1.0 g L(-1) of T300 and T0.05-450, respectively, which were almost comparable to those achieved in the batch photoreactor. Due to its shorter hydraulic residence time in the photoreactor, the PG degradation efficiency in the continuous flow-through MPR with backwashing was lower than that achieved in the closed-loop MPR.