Ricerc@Sapienza

Nowadays, nanoparticles are of great interest for the industry due to their numerous possible applications in several fields. Research on this topic seeks to develop many procedures to produce nanoparticles, mostly at lab scale, batch-wise and with low yield. These procedures generally do not suit industrial needs of continuous, high capacity production. Moreover, the product characteristics require targeting narrow particle size distributions and high quality, which is difficult to achieve by traditional equipment.

The aim of this work was to investigate the performances of a spinning disk reactor for the removal of nitrate from aqueous solutions, by using iron nanoparticles as reducing agent. The influence of three operating parameters, i.e. rotational velocity, feed injection point position and recirculation flow-rate was investigated through evaluating the nitrate reduction efficiency and kinetics. Increasing the rotational velocity led to a better nitrate reduction efficiency and faster kinetics.

The use of photocatalysis in environmental remediation processes has become more important in the last decade, mainly due to the notable efforts made by researchers in this field. The photocatalytic process requires a semiconductor material (photocatalyst), usually a metal oxide, which can be activated through the energy transported by ultraviolet light or visible light waves.