PHOTODEGRADATION OF GLYCEROL USING NANOSTRUCTURED TiO2 CATALYST

Abstract

The rapid growth in the production of biodiesel and it’s primary co-product, i.e. glycerol, has become an environment concern. Currently, several processes have been developed to convert glycerol to other compounds through catalysis. Herein, nanotubular morphology of titanium dioxide (TiO2) was obtained by electrochemical anodization and applied in photocatalytic degradation of glycerol. Nanostructured TiO2 catalysts were obtained by anodization in glycerol-ethylene glycol electrolyte containing ammonium fluoride at 60 V for time durations of 60 and 120 minutes and crystallized through thermal treatment at 450 °C for 3 h with a heating ramp of 10 ºC min-1. The samples were characterized by FEG-SEM and XRD. The performances of TiO2 nanotubular photoelectrodes were evaluated via glycerol photodegradation and also for comparison in photo-electrochemical water splitting. The TiO2 nanotubes anodized for 120 minutes presented the best performance in both tests that was related to their optimal morphology and charge transportation.