Optimization of the photocatalytic degradation process of aromatic organic compounds applied to mangrove sediment

Marcio J Silva; Sarah A R Soares; Ingrid D F Santos; Iuri M Pepe; Leandro R Teixeira; Lucas G Pereira; Lucas B A Silva; Joil J Celino

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05163

Optimization of the photocatalytic degradation process of aromatic organic compounds applied to mangrove sediment

Heliyon. 2020 Oct 8;6(10):e05163. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05163. eCollection 2020 Oct.

Authors

Marcio J Silva¹, Sarah A R Soares², Ingrid D F Santos², Iuri M Pepe³, Leandro R Teixeira³, Lucas G Pereira³, Lucas B A Silva³, Joil J Celino¹

Affiliations

¹ Postgraduate Program in Geochemistry: Petroleum and Environment, Geoscience Institute, Federal University of Bahia, Rua Barão de Jeremoabo, s/n, 40170-020 Salvador, BA, Brazil.
² LEPETRO, Excellence in Geochemistry: Petroleum, Energy and Environment, Geoscience Institute, Federal University of Bahia, Rua Barão de Jeremoabo, s/n, 40170-020 Salvador, BA, Brazil.
³ Laboratory of Optical Properties, Institute of Physics, Federal University of Bahia, Rua Barão de Jeremoabo, s/n, 40170-020 Salvador, BA, Brazil.

Abstract

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are part of a class of organic compounds resistant to natural degradation. In this way, heterogeneous photocatalysis becomes useful to degrade persistent organic pollutants, however it can be influenced by environmental variables (i.e.: organic matter) and experimental factors such as: mass of the photocatalyst and irradiation time. The objective of this research was to use a factorial design 2^k as a function of the multiple response (MR) to evaluate simultaneously experimental conditions for the photodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in contaminated mangrove sediment and its application in oil from Potiguar Basin in Brazil. The sediment samples collected in Belmonte city (Southern Bahia state) were contaminated with 0.25 mg kg^-1 of Acenaphthene, Anthracene, Benzo[a]Anthracene, Indene[1,2,3cd]pyrene, Dibenzo[ah]anthracene, Benzo[ghi]pyrene. Factors such as mass of the photocatalyst and irradiation time were evaluated in factorial design 2², with triplicate from the central point, to 1g of the PAH contaminated sediment. After performing the experiments, it was found that the best experimental condition for the degradation of all PAHs indicated by MR was the central point (0.5 g of photocatalyst and 12h of irradiation). For such conditions, the half-life of PAHs varied from 3.51 to 9.37 h and the degradation speed constant between 0.0740 to 0.1973 h^-1. The comparison of the optimized methodology between photolysis tests and heterogeneous photocatalysis was performed using the Kruskal-Wallis test, which indicated a difference for the reference solution, where heterogeneous photocatalysis was more efficient in the degradation of PAHs. The optimized methodology was apply in samples contaminated with crude oil from Potiguar Basin, no significant difference was observed in the aromatic fraction, using for the Kruskal-Wallis test. Heterogeneous photocatalysis has shown to be a promising remediation technique to remedy aromatic organic compounds in mangrove sediments.

Keywords: Advanced oxidative processes; Chemometrics; Chromatography; Environmental analysis; Environmental geochemistry; Environmental pollution; Experimental design; Heterogeneous photo catalysis; Multiple response; Photodegradation; Physical chemistry.