Thesis Archive
Degradation of Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (Ddt) in Water Matrix Using Bimetallic Nano Zero-valent Iron/copper (2013-2014)
Lance Kingsley T. Aguinaldo
Abstract:
-“This study involved the degradation of dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) by ultilizing bimetallic nano-zero valent iron and copper system (nZVI/Cu). The nanozero valent iron was synthesized using drop-wise technique of mixing NaBH4 and FeCl3.6H2O. The nano-zero valent iron was found to have an average particle size of 6.9 nm and a specific surface area of 60.72m2g-1. The nZVI/Cu was formed by mixing fixed amounts of CuCl2.2H2O with nZVI. The synthesized nZVI/Cu particles were tested for surface composition using SEM-EDX. The results showed 65.76% Fe and 34.24%O (pure nZVI), 56.46%Fe and 43.54%Cu (1Fe:1Cu), 59.20%Fe and 40.80%Cu(3Fe:1Cu), 13.40%Fe and 86.60%Cu(1Fe:3Cu). The degradation of DDT thru nZVI/Cu was optimized by following the Taguchi design with three varying parameters namely, initial DDT concentration, nZVI to Cu ratio, nZVI/Cu metal loading. The response is expressed as mg of DDT removed per mass of nZVI/Cu. The highest amount of DDT degraded was obtained using 2g/L total metal loading, intial DDT concentration 10 ppm and 1:3 Fe-to-Cu ratio. Only the total metal loading was found to significantly affect DDT degradation. Comparing the the DDT degradation using pure nZVI and nZVI/Cu (1Fe:3Cu), the use of copper greatly enhanced DDT degradation resulting in 4.22 mg DDT degraded per g metal loading compared to 0.987 mg DDT degraded per g metal loading using pure nZVI. The kinetics of DDT degradation was found to be pseudo-first order.”
Adviser:
Dr. Josephine Q. Borja
Dr. Joseph Auresenia