Comparison of iron and copper catalyst composites with titania for the degradation of azo-dyes by advanced oxidation processes

Due to the fast industrial development in recent years, trace organic chemicals, such as pharmaceutical compounds and dyes, have been found in freshwater sources. Trace organic chemicals are hard to remove by traditional waste water treatment processes, and can partially be present at the end of the treatment. In this work several catalytic systems base NMd on modified titania with Cu and Fe species were produced with the aim of boosting the degradation of azo dyes with the use of light driven catalytic advanced oxidation processes. In particular, different composite catalysts were synthesized by coprecipitation, characterized, and tested under UV light in batch mode. Several factors affecting the rate of decoloration were analyzed to highlight limits and improvement opportunities to boost the simple photocatalytic activity of bare titania.