Photocatalysis and H2O2/UV-C - Application to nuclear wastes

C. Guillard (1) , K. Rekab , F. Dappozze (1) , J. M. Null Herrmann (1) , C. Lepeytre

1 CARE - IRCELYON-Catalytic and Atmospheric Reactivity for the Environment

The efficiency of photocatalytic methods based on TiO2 (Degussa P-25) and UV/H2O2 as means of degrading, mineralizing Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) alone or complexes with radioelement and recovering the radioelement (Co) were studied under UV-C irradiation. EDTA was chosen because it is present in high proportions at nuclear facilities, where it is used for cleaning and decontamination purposes because of its chelating properties. In a first step the photonic flux of the UV-C lamps was established using actinometric and Keitz’s methods. Then adsorption capacities of TiO2 to adsorb Co complexes or not with EDTA have been studied. Finally, we compared the disappearance and mineralization rates, the intermediate by-products formed in the degradation of EDTA under UV-C photolysis, photocatalysis and H2O2/UV-C and studied the effect of pH. The results show that the efficiency of the UV/TiO2 and UV/H2O2 processes was found to be similar, provided H2O2 was added continuously during the UV/H2O2 process. The photonic efficiency was calculated and found to be equal to 0.9% in the case of photocatalysis and 1.4% in that of UV/H2O2

Domaines: Catalyse; Environnement et Société

C. Guillard, K. Rekab, F. Dappozze, J. M. Null Herrmann, C. Lepeytre. Photocatalysis and H2O2/UV-C - Application to nuclear wastes. SP5 (5th International Conference on Semiconductor Photochemistry, Jul 2015, Saint Petersbourg, Russia. ⟨hal-01180633⟩