A high-performance microreactor integrated with chitosan/ BiWO/CNT/TiO nanofibers for adsorptive/photocatalytic removal of cephalexin from aqueous solution.

A Z-scheme BiWO/CNT/TiO photocatalyst was synthesized hydrothermally and loaded on chitosan nanofibers with different mass percentages using the electrospinning process. The batch adsorption experiments for chitosan nanofibrous samples containing BiWO/CNT/TiO revealed that the adsorption process and its kinetic followed the Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order model, respectively. A planar microreactor with a reusable plate-type configuration was fabricated employing an inexpensive micromachining technique and integrated with chitosan/BiWO/CNT/TiO nanofibers. The synergistic effect of the adsorption and photocatalysis was assessed for removing cephalexin under simulated sunlight irradiation in a continuous flow microreactor. The nanofibers containing 15 wt% of BiWO/CNT/TiO exhibited the most removal efficiency. The effects of operational variables were investigated in the microreactor and optimized using response surface methodology as light intensity = 17.45 W/m, retention time = 256 s, pH = 4.8, and initial cephalexin concentration = 29 mg/L. At this condition, cephalexin and TOC removal efficiencies reached 99.2% and 92.4%, respectively. The kinetic of disappearance of cephalexin under optimal conditions followed the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model. The adsorption equilibrium constant deduced from this model was similar to that one calculated from the Langmuir isotherm model. At the optimum condition, cephalexin removal efficiency reduced to 80% after 1500 min of microreactor operation and the nanofibers revealed appropriate stability and reusability.