Photoassisted oxidation of oil films on water
The objective of the project is to develop a method for the solar assisted oxidation of oil slicks. A semiconducting photocatalyst, titanium dioxide, is used. Upon absorbing a photon, an electron-hole pair is generated in the TiO{sub 2} microcrystal. The electron reacts with surface-adsorbed oxygen, reducing it to hydrogen peroxide; the hole directly oxidizes adsorbed organic compounds. Titanium dioxide is denser than either oil or seawater; the density of its anatase phase is 3.8 and that of its rutile phase is 4.3. In order to keep the titanium dioxide at the air/oil interface, it is attached to a low density, floating material. The particles of the latter are sufficiently small to make the system economical. Specifically, the photocatalyst particles are attached to inexpensive hollow glass microbeads of about 100{mu}m diameter. Those areas of the microbeads that are not covered by photocatalyst are made oleophilic, so that the microbeads will follow the oil slick and not migrate to either the air/water or the water/oil interface.
- Research Organization:
- Texas Univ., Austin, TX (USA). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE/ER
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG05-90ER12101
- OSTI ID:
- 6470338
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/ER/12101-1; ON: DE91000982
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Photoassisted oxidation of oil films on water. Final performance report, January 1, 1990--March 31, 1993
Collection optics of TiO{sub 2} photocatalyst on hollow glass microbeads floating on oil slicks
Related Subjects
020900* -- Petroleum-- Environmental Aspects
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
400500 -- Photochemistry
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DOCUMENT TYPES
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
MITIGATION
OIL SPILLS
OXIDATION
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PETROLEUM
PHOTOCHEMICAL REACTIONS
PROGRESS REPORT
TITANIUM COMPOUNDS
TITANIUM OXIDES
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS