Central composite design optimization of Rhodamine B degradation using TiO₂ nanoparticles/UV/PVDF process in continuous submerged membrane photoreactor

In this paper, efficiency of a hybrid system combining UV/TiO₂ nanoparticles and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane in a continuous pilot-scale submerged membrane photocatalysis reactor (SMPR) was investigated to degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB). The PVDF microfiltration membrane has potential to separate TiO₂ nanoparticles from the treated wastewater. Effects of different operational parameters such as TiO₂ dosages, UV light intensity, solution pH and polluted water flux in treatment reactor, which affect the performance of the photoreactor were evaluated. For the setup of the experimental design, a central composite design (CCD) matrix of the statistical response surface methodology (RSM) was used. The results indicated that the TiO₂ photocatalyst at 0.1 g/L, 3 UV-C lamps, polluted water flux of 100 L/h m² and pH of 8 were the optimum conditions for the removal of the RhB. Under the optimum conditions, 95.0% degradation was experimentally obtained.