Removal of synthetic and industrial effluent color by photocatalytic process.

The present work aimed at evaluating the photocatalytic process as an alternative for color removal from a synthetic solution (methylene blue dye) and of a sample of textile effluent, obtained from the various stages of the process, mainly dyeing. The parameters were evaluated using titanium dioxide (anatase, rutile, commercial and synthetized by the sol-gel method) in order to determine their structural influence in the discoloration of the samples. A synthetic methylene blue dye solution and a real effluent (Brazilian textile industry) were treated. The photocatalytic degradation was carried out over three hours in a batch reactor, under constant agitation, aeration, radiation and temperature. It was observed that the characteristics of each catalyst directly influence the photocatalytic activity. As a result, for the variables used in this work, the photocatalyst TiO anatase phase with a concentration of 1 kg/m³ was the most efficient condition, presenting full color removal for the methylene blue and 71% for the sifted textile effluent.