Study about the application possibilities from the heterogeneous photo-catalysis to the phenols removal processes in watery medium

Phenols are recalcitrant and quite-toxic organic compounds, which are generally in wastewaters from some industries, such as petrochemical, paper mills, chemical industries of production of pesticides and herbicides, among others. Conventionally these compounds are treated with some treatment, such as electrochemistry, biodegradation or incineration, in which ones it is not achieved an optimal removal of phenols. Due to this becomes necessary the study of more efficient techniques. Heterogeneous photo-catalysis belongs one to them, which one is based on a catalytic reaction that involves the absorption of light on a semiconductor, with the purpose of degrading the organic pollutants to dioxide of carbon, water an mineral acids these ones innocuous or e environment. At the moment, studies look for to optimize the values for the different parameters that affect the photo-catalytic process. These are: pH, temperature, radiation intensity, reactor design, nature and concentration of the pollutant, preservatives, and kinetics of the reaction. This last one plays a very important role in the real application of the process. The tendency of the photo-catalysis is focused to the development of useful prototypes in the industry, mainly in decontamination treatments of air, water, or soils, and in self-cleaning surface application