Investigation on TiO2 nanophotocatalysts performance in simultaneous removal of hiumic acid and biological contaminants (E.Coli) from contaminated water under UV light irradiation

Contamination of drinking water by organic materials (humic acid) and biological contamination (E.coli) even in small amounts during the water disinfection process by chlorine cause to the formation of disinfection by-products those impacts on human and other creatures’ health. In this study the ability of TiO2 to remove humic acid and E.coli from contaminated water was investigated. At first, using scanning electron microscopy (TEM) and XRD, the properties of TiO2 nanoparticles were determined. The samples of water containing different amount of humic acid and E.coli and TiO2 were inserted in photoreactor under UV (30W) irradiation. The effect of operational parameters including light intensity, TiO2 dosage and time was investigated. The results of experiments were revealed that under suitable conditions ([TiO2]= 245 mg/L, light intensity= 140 W/m2 and time=85 min) more than 94% of absorption in 254 nm and 70% total organic carbon were removed. Also, the photocatalytic process caused to inactivate the E.Coli, effectively.