Raschig Rings for Naphthalene Removal

Raschig rings are small round tubes with wide surface areas designed to store liquid or gas in chemical engineering applications. Common materials for Raschig rings include ceramic, metal or glass materials with various sizes available to provide criticality control or reduce dust accumulation during distillation columns. Raschig rings may be made out of ceramic, metal or glass materials and feature various sizes available – they’re often made for criticality control in situations involving Pu-239, U-235 or U-233 solutions and often packed into distillation columns to avoid bed-bridging or reduce dust accumulation and accumulate dirt accumulation over time.

Background and Objectives: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) pose an environmental concern due to their carcinogenic effects on humans and the environment. Photocatalytic aerobic oxidation of naphthalene has been widely researched for efficient removal from aqueous solutions [9, 10, 11], however most research in this regard was performed using batch reactors; few studies focused on anaerobic recycling processes under anaerobic conditions [12, 13].

In the present study, sulfur and nitrogen doped titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2-N-S NPs) immobilized on Raschig rings were evaluated for their photocatalytic degradation of naphthalene in an aqueous system under sunlight. An experiment employing multiple-factor experimental design was employed in order to optimize the parameters of the catalyst and ensure its maximum effectiveness in naphthalene removal. Results demonstrated that degradation and decomposition of naphthalene into naphthalen-1-ol and naphthalen-2-ol increased with increasing illumination time, with Pt-ATiO2 showing lower signal intensity from formed organic radicals than Pt-HTiO2, possibly due to slower photogenerated electron transfer between ATiO2 naphthalene clusters and platinum particles, leading to reduced molecular hydrogen formation.