Hybridization of photocatalysis and membrane distillation for purification of wastewater

The presented paper describes the results of the investigation on the possibility of coupling photocatalysis and membrane distillation (MD) for the degradation of organic pollutants in aqueous solution. Acid Red 18 was applied as a model dye and titanium dioxide Aeroxide® P25 (Degussa, Germany) was used as a photocatalyst. It was found that the addition of TiO2 P25 did not affect the permeate flux through the MD membrane, regardless of the catalyst concentration applied. The model dye was removed completely. Moreover, after 5 h of the hybrid process performance almost complete retention of TOC, TDS and inorganic ions (N–NO3−, N–NO2−, N–NH4+, SO42−) was obtained.