The current rate of industrial growth presents a formidable wastewater management problem. Hence releasing industrial wastewater into rivers is just not an option. Photocatalytic degradation of industrial wastewater using TiO2 has emerged as a promising alternative, as it can effectively degrade a wide range of pollutants into harmless products under UV irradiation. Titania's global requirement is on the rise. India Rare Earth Limited developed a novel modified sulphate process to extract TiO2 from the ilmenite ore to address this. This approach also allows the production of TiO2 from slag, thus making this approach to production amenable to scalable production. Given this, and considering the importance of TiO2 to the emerging applied photocatalysis market, it is deemed necessary to study the photocatalytic behaviour of TiO2 for some critical use cases (wastewater treatment and self-cleaning coatings).
In this study, (a) we conducted a comprehensive investigation to valorize mspd-TiO2 by assessing its photocatalytic properties and performance in comparison to the commercially available Degussa P-25 TiO2 . (b) We also demonstrated the promising potential of mspd-TiO2 for the efficient and economically viable treatment of industrial wastewater containing complex sulfur-containing organic pollutants. (c) Additionally, we explored the use of mechanically doped CNS-TiO2 to enhance the photocatalytic degradation of industrial wastewater. (d) Addressing the challenging issue of catalyst recovery from wastewater after degradation, we developed specialized coatings for industrial wastewater treatment through an optimization process involving surfactants and binders. Overall, this work underscores the substantial promise of mspd-TiO2 for the cost-effective and efficient treatment of industrial wastewater containing complex sulfur-containing organic pollutants.