Mixed oxides containing zinc and lanthanum were prepared by coprecipitation in alkaline medium, followed by calcination at 400 °C. The initial precipitation product and the calcined form were characterized by Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) method adsorption of nitrogen at −196 °C, Scanning Electron Microscopy/Electron-Probe Microanalysis (SEM/EPM), Ultraviolet - Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (UV-DRS) and Infrared (IR) spectroscopy. The band gap slightly changes from 3.23 eV to 3 eV by calcination. The photocatalytic performance of the solids were investigated in diluted aqueous medium, by using clofibric acid (CA), a stable and toxic molecule used as precursor in some pesticides and drugs, as test compound, possibly found in the wastewaters in low concentrations. The effects of the degradation extent, determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and total organic carbon (TOC) measurements, were investigated at different initial concentrations of CA. Within about 60 min the CA degradation is almost total at low concentration values (3 ppm) and reaches over 80% in 180 min for an initial concentration of 50 ppm. Moreover, the CA removal performance of photocatalyst remains excellent after three cycles of use: the removal yield was practically total after 60 min in the first two cycles and reached 95% even in the third cycle.

TiO2 nanoparticles synthesized by the sol-gel method and doped with Ag were characterized by SEM, EDAX, FTIR, BET, XRD and TEM, then tested in the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) under UV irradiation. The experimental results indicate that the average size of the raw particles was 10 nm, and their size was increased by calcination. The photocatalytic degradation of MB on nanostructured TiO2-Ag shows a high degradation efficiency upon the addition of a photosensitizer. A parametric study of the process was performed and has revealed the optimal value of the photocatalyst dose (0.3 g L−1) at a MB concentration of 4 ppm. Afterwards, the effect of acetone as a photosensitizer was studied. A MB degradation mechanism was proposed to explain the synergy between the TiO2 and the silver nanoparticles in the degradation performance. Under the optimal experimental conditions, at photosensitizer doses of 0.1 and 0.2%, yields of 92.38% and 97.25% MB degradation were achieved, respectively. Kinetic models showed that, at 0.1% acetone concentration, the data fit the pseudo-first-order model, while at 0.2% acetone, the photodegradation mechanism fits a second-order model. The values of the apparent rate constants indicate that the reaction rate increased between 24 and 40 times in the presence of acetone on TiO2 and TiO2-Ag. The addition of acetone modified the photodegradation mechanism and the Ag-doped samples became more active. The results of recycling tests using calcined TiO2-Ag material clearly show that the material was highly photocatalytically stable for the MB degradation. According to experimental results, the dye degradation decreased from 97.25% to 92.39% after four consecutive cycles. This simple approach could be applied for the advanced cleaning of wastewater contaminated with dyes, in the perspective of its reuse.

In the current work, the preparation of a complex wastewater coagulant based on polymeric sulfates of aluminum/iron from fly ash is presented. The performance of the coagulation�flocculation process is mostly influenced by the coagulant type, which enhances the aggregation of particles and leads to formation of fast-settling flocs by charge neutralization or chain-bridging mechanisms. Within the preparation process, the reaction temperature was controlled at 80�C and 90�C for 4 h, the synthesized materials being characterized through different techniques (SEM, EDAX, FTIR, and XRD) and further used as coagulants for real wastewater treatment. As a novelty of this study, it can be mentioned that there were analyzed the possibilities of capitalization of Romanian fly ash collected from Iasi area and its transformation into complex based on aluminum - iron sulfates. Fly ash containing different concentrations of Fe2O3 and Al2O3 was successfully used in producing complex coagulants by reacting with 10% technical sulfuric acid solution. The produced complex coagulants contain both polymeric ferric sulfate (PFS) and polymeric aluminum sulfate (PAS) (demonstrated by complex characterization) and proved to be effective in wastewater treatment. These sustainable materials exhibited a good performance in coagulation�flocculation process (e.g. it was obtained a TSS removal efficiency of 84% at the coagulant dosage of 60 mg/L).

A simple and efficient method for preparing Ag-doped TiO2 nanoparticles was successfully developed, by associating the sol-gel method and the impregnation-reduction. While titanium dioxide is one of the most used solids as photocatalyst, silver is particularly interesting for applications in biological and chemical detection and for its antibacterial properties. Moreover, in photocatalysis silver acts as an electron sink and donor in capturing the photogenerated electrons. The structural and morphological properties of the TiO2-Ag samples were investigated by XRD, SEM, TEM, SAED and EDAX. The crystallinity degree increased by calcination at 650°C and the nature of the phases changed from anatase to a mixture of anatase, rutile and silver in metallic form and silver oxide. The photocatalytic properties of the synthesized product were evaluated in the UV-assisted photodegradation of Rhodamine 6G and Methyl Blue dyes. The photocatalytic performance in dyes decomposition of the doped samples was better than pure TiO2.

TiO2-assisted photocatalysis is used in numerous environmental applications and for the manufacturing of different products. Agdoped TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by impregnation using silver nitrate solution on TiO2 obtained by sol-gel method and on commercial Degusa P25 (Evonik). Silver is widely studied as a dopant for semiconductor materials, due to its antibacterial properties. In addition to this, it acts as electron sink and donor for photogenerated electrons, enhancing the photocatalytic activity. The physical properties of the samples calcined at different temperatures were investigated by XRD, XRF, SEM, TEM, SAED and EDAX techniques. The calcination temperature of 650 o C led to the total transformation of titanium dioxide (anatase) to rutile phase when commercial P25 was doped with Ag. In the case of samples produced by sol-gel method, the anatase is still the major phase even at this temperature. The photocatalytic activity of the synthesized catalysts was evaluated in the UV-assisted photodegradation of Rhodamine 6G and Congo Red dyes. The conversion yield of Rhodamine 6G reached 66.5% and that of Congo Red was 53% after 120 minutes of irradiation.