Photochemical Studies on Degradation of Cetyl Pyridinium Chloride (Cationic Surfactant) in Aqueous Phase Using Different Photocatalysts

The photocatalytic process using semiconductors with a nanostructure is one of the technologies used for the destructive oxidation of organic compounds such as surfactants. In this paper, the photocatalytic degradation of Cetyl pyridinium chloride (CPC), was investigated in aqueous phase using various semiconductors such as titanium dioxide (Ti02), zinc oxide (ZnO), stannic oxide (Sn02). The degradation was studied under different conditions including the amount of photocatalyst, pH of the system, initial concentration and presence of anions. The results showed that the photocatalytic degradation of CPC was strongly influenced by these parameters and the best conditions for the photocatalytic degradation of CPC were obtained. The experimental results indicated that maximum degradation (87%) of surfactant occurred when ZnO was used as catalyst. The photodegradation efficiency was enhanced by increasing amount of photocatalyst, and decreases with the increase in the initial concentration of Cetyl pyridinium chloride. Finally, the kinetics process was studied and the photodegradation rate of CPC was found to obey pseudo-first-order kinetics equation represented by the Langmuir—Hinshelwood model.