Degradation of diclofenac in a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor with photocatalytic coating

Diclofenac (DCF) is one of the most widely make used of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) which can be detected in wastewater bodies very frequently. This study aimed to investigate and improve Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOP) in water treatment, to increase degradation efficiency on the selected pharmaceutical compound. To increase photocatalytic activity of the system, DBD reactor was equipped with an inner aluminum electrode that coated with TiO2. DBD reactor was studied to degrade diclofenac in the water for different concentrations (200 µg/L and 10 mg/L) and different gas type (O2 and synthetic air). To measure the concentration of DCF during the degradation in plasma process was proceed by HPLC. The results showed that %100 decomposition of 200 µg/L took less than 20 seconds and 2 minutes for 20 mg/L concentration. Oxygen has been used (100 sccm) as plasma gas and 1000 mL volume has selected as sample volume. Analyze results confirmed that a synergistic effect was obtained higher degradation efficiency using DBD reactor and photocatalytic effect.