Development of three-dimensional anodes for degradation of organic pollutants

• Grant number: 24/13250-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: September 01, 2024
• End date: June 30, 2029
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Chemical Engineering - Chemical Process Industries
• Principal Investigator: Luis Augusto Martins Ruotolo
• Grantee: Gabriel Palace Oliveira
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 22/12895-1 - Advanced processes for the degradation of emerging pollutants: catalytic materials, electroanalytical sensors and scientific dissemination, AP.TEM

Abstract

The modern world increasingly demands more water for human and animal consumption, agriculture and industry,which has encouraged the treatment, maintenance and conservation of water resources, as well as thedevelopment of new technologies aimed at reusing them in different sectors. The industry is a large consumer ofwater which, due to environmental and economic pressures, has been seeking the practice of reuse not only as away of aligning it with sustainable development objectives, but also as a way of reducing production costs. In thiscontext, water reuse in the industrial sector has been increasingly encouraged and involves removing the organicload from the effluent, in which case electrochemical technology has proven to be quite efficient, with increasedeffectiveness based on the development of anodes with high electrocatalytic power to degrade organiccompounds. However, despite advances, high energy consumption still constitutes a challenge to be overcome.Minimizing energy consumption involves improving the process in terms of increasing the mass transfer rate andcurrent efficiency, these being the specific objectives of this research project, whose main objective is thedevelopment of electrochemical processes and reactors for the treatment of industrial effluents. Based onprevious studies of the Latea research group, in this project we intend to address this topic considering three mainaspects: i) development and application of new electrode materials; ii) development of electrochemical reactorswith three-dimensional electrodes that promote an increase in the mass transfer rate, leading to an increase inreaction kinetics, and iii) study of the degradation process aiming to reduce specific energy consumption (kWh/kgof organic carbon removed ). The proposed methodologies will be applied to the treatment of real effluents from alarge national textile industry and an effluent treatment company, using electrochemical reactors on a semi-pilotscale. The effectiveness of the proposed electrodes and methodologies will be evaluated based on organic carbonremoval and energy consumption. If there is time, it is also proposed to apply the knowledge acquired inobtaining three-dimensional anodes for the development of three-dimensional cathodes with a view to theirapplication in the electrochemical conversion of CO2 into value-added chemical products. Through understandingthe electrochemical and mass transfer phenomena involved in the execution of this project, it is expected tocontribute to the state of the art on the subject, through the development of innovative electrochemical reactors,capable of promoting rapid reaction kinetics, combined with a methodology simple operation and capable ofminimizing energy consumption. Once the technological aspects involved in the proposal are validated, it isexpected to offer the production sector an alternative process and equipment for the treatment of industrialeffluents. (AU)