NOx removal of mortar mixed with titania produced from Ti-salt flocculated sludge

Norms for the emissions of NOx are becoming stricter and stricter, leading to an increase in the research interest for the development of novel gas cleaning technologies. In this study, the use of titania (TiO2) produced from Ti-salt flocculated sludge, mixed with mortar, has been investigated as a cost-effective novel solution for the removal of these pollutant gases. This work not only presents an advanced solution for sludge reduction but also proposes a novel production method of TiO2 powders from waste water and investigates the potential use of this material blinded with mortar for a novel application which is air purification. Detailed characterization of the produced TiO2 powders was performed and results showed that the primary particles present a uniform size and spherical shape with a diameter of less than 50 nm. The main constitutive elements were Ti, O, C and P, where the Ti content was found to increase slightly with increasing temperature. The anatase phase was observed at 600 °C and 800 °C and converted to rutile structure at 1000 °C. Two contents (i.e. 3.0 and 5.0 wt%) of TiO2 were tested for mixing with mortar and photocatalytic properties of the mortar containing TiO2 were evaluated for the removal of NOx and were found to be similar to commercial TiO2 (P-25) in terms of photocatalytic activity. Further investigations under direct sunlight were conducted after 28 days of water curing to evaluate the removal of NOx. The NO rejection was about 50% after 5 h.