Sonocatalytic degradation of methyl orange in the presence of (nanometer and ordinary) anatase TiO2 powders

The nanometer and ordinary anatase titanium dioxide (TiO2) powders were adopted as the sonocatalysts for the degradation of methyl orange used as a model compound for the first time. It was found that the sonocatalytic degradation effect of methyl orange in the presence of TiO2 powder were much better than that without TiO2, but the sonocatalytic activity of the nanometer anatase TiO2 particle was obviously higher than that of ordinary anatase TiO2 particle. Although there are many factors influencing sonocatalytic degradation of methyl orange, the experimental results showed that the best degradation ratio of methyl orange could be obtained when the experimental conditions were: initial concentration 15 mg/L, nanometer anatase TiO2 adding amount 750 mg/L, ultrasonic frequency 40 kHz, output power 50 W, pH = 3.0 and temperature 40 degrees C within 150 min. In addition, the catalytic activity of reused nanometer anatase TiO2 catalyst was also studied and found to decline gradually comparing with initial nanometer anatase TiO2 catalyst. All experiments indicated that the method of the sonocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in the presence of TiO2 powder was an advisable choice for non- or low-transparent organic wastewaters.