Technical Studies

Textile dyeing and finishing industry is one of the major industries in Taiwan, of which the wastewater has been considered highly polluted due to the high strength of dyestuffs such as Orange G and Rhodamine B, total suspended solids (TSS), and chemical oxygen demand (COD). Conventional wastewater treatments have been proven inefficient in treating the wastewater to the standard set by the environmental protection bureau in Taiwan. The goal of this study is to develop an efficient dyestuff wastewater treatment system by incorporating an innovative membrane material. A photo-induced electrosemiconductor membrane will be developed, and its electron transfer efficiency will be evaluated and the mechanism of its advanced oxidation reaction will be determined. The material will then be used to construct a photoelectron semiconductor membrane filtration (PSMF) system to treat the dyestuff wastewater. Unlike other dyestuff wastewater treatment processes, the PSMF system is environment friendly and of low-cost in addition to its effective removals of organic pollutants and inorganic impurities, and disinfection. Because the membrane module can be expeditiously transported to remote areas suffered from natural disaster, the PSMF system can serve as an emergency water purification unit to meet the water need.  This project is divided into three sections comprising (1) PSMF preparation technology, (2) study of photoelectrochemical mechanism, (3) PSMF system development and verification test. In PSMF preparation, electrode materials such as titanium oxide anode and graphite cathode will be prepared and optimized for PSMF application. In study of photoelectrochemical mechanism, the effect of electrofenton, photocatalysis, and combining photocatalysis and photoelectrofenton on OG degradation will be investigated. In PSMF system development and verification, in order to verify the results from laboratory, a pilot-scale PMSF system will be setup and used to treat real dyestuff wastewater.