The Photocatalysis and Catalysis as novelty treatments to degrade pollutants

Abstract

The elimination of pollutants from the environment is an arduous task to carry out due to the complexity of the effluents or contaminated places. For this reason, the possibility of developing new methodologies capable of eliminating contaminants down to harmless compounds has been sought. In the case of Catalysis and Photocatalysis, they are two viable alternatives, environmentally friendly, and straightforward. The application of Catalysis in this case is the elimination of sulfur from diesel, thus avoiding pollution by sulfur dioxides, which are the primary source of generating acid rain that causes damage to health and buildings, deteriorating them rapidly. In the case of Photocatalysis, it was applied to eliminate arsenic from water, where through the use of a semiconductor such as nanometric-sized zinc oxide, ZnO, doped with a load of copper particles, it was possible to oxidize the arsenite and bring it to arsenate in 180 minutes. This reaction was carried out at pH 6.0 with a catalyst concentration ratio of 1 g/L. It is proven that the copper particles supported on the surface of the ZnO could oxidize arsenite to arsenate in a shorter time than pristine ZnO.