The concept of photoelectrochemistry applied to microbial fuel cells could be the future of sustainable wastewater treatment and for hydrogen recovery as a valuable energy source. With the increase of recalcitrant organic pollutants in industrial wastewater, the need for a sustainable bio-electrochemical process has become pressing in order to ensure that treatment processes are coupled with some beneficiation advantages. Microbial fuel cells combine wastewater treatment and biological power generation. However, the resistance of these organic pollutants to biological degradation requires further adjustment of the system to improve sustainability through maximization of energy production. Solar energy conversion using photocatalysis has drawn huge attention for its potential to provide renewable and sustainable energy. Furthermore, it might be the solution to serious environmental and energy-related problems. It has been widely understood for several years that the top global issues today are concerned with securing a clean supply of water and ensuring a reasonable price for clean energy. Researchers are studying advanced materials and processes to produce clean, renewable hydrogen fuel through photocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic water splitting, as well as to reduce carbon dioxide from the air into fuels through photocatalysis. Limited progress is occurring in these areas. The purpose of this book is to comprehensively cover the evolvement in the conceptualization and application of photocatalytic fuel cells, as well as make a critical assessment of the contribution in the field of sustainable wastewater treatment and renewable energy production. This book contains nine specialized chapters that provide comprehensive coverage of the design of photocatalytic fuel cells and their applications, including environmental remediation, chemical synthesis, green energy generation, model simulation for scaling up processes and implementation, and most importantly maximization of hydrogen evolution, recovery, and applications. Audience A wide audience of academics, industrial researchers, and graduate students working in heterogeneous photocatalysis, fuel cells, sustainable chemistry, nanotechnology, chemical engineering, environmental protection, and surfaces and interfaces, will find this book useful. The book is also important for professionals, namely environmental managers, water treatment plants managers and operators, water authorities, government regulatory bodies officers, and environmentalists.

The concept of photoelectrochemistry applied to microbial fuel cells could be the future of sustainable wastewater treatment and for hydrogen recovery as a valuable energy source. With the increase of recalcitrant organic pollutants in industrial wastewater, the need for a sustainable bio-electrochemical process has become pressing in order to ensure that treatment processes are coupled with some beneficiation advantages. Microbial fuel cells combine wastewater treatment and biological power generation. However, the resistance of these organic pollutants to biological degradation requires further adjustment of the system to improve sustainability through maximization of energy production. Solar energy conversion using photocatalysis has drawn huge attention for its potential to provide renewable and sustainable energy. Furthermore, it might be the solution to serious environmental and energy-related problems. It has been widely understood for several years that the top global issues today are concerned with securing a clean supply of water and ensuring a reasonable price for clean energy. Researchers are studying advanced materials and processes to produce clean, renewable hydrogen fuel through photocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic water splitting, as well as to reduce carbon dioxide from the air into fuels through photocatalysis. Limited progress is occurring in these areas. The purpose of this book is to comprehensively cover the evolvement in the conceptualization and application of photocatalytic fuel cells, as well as make a critical assessment of the contribution in the field of sustainable wastewater treatment and renewable energy production. This book contains nine specialized chapters that provide comprehensive coverage of the design of photocatalytic fuel cells and their applications, including environmental remediation, chemical synthesis, green energy generation, model simulation for scaling up processes and implementation, and most importantly maximization of hydrogen evolution, recovery, and applications. Audience A wide audience of academics, industrial researchers, and graduate students working in heterogeneous photocatalysis, fuel cells, sustainable chemistry, nanotechnology, chemical engineering, environmental protection, and surfaces and interfaces, will find this book useful. The book is also important for professionals, namely environmental managers, water treatment plants managers and operators, water authorities, government regulatory bodies officers, and environmentalists.

Recovery of Values from Low-Grade and Complex Minerals The book elaborates on various physicochemical properties of minerals and technological developments to improve the recovery of metals while ensuring cost-effectiveness and minimal environmental impact. The mineral industry is undergoing significant cultural, organizational, and technological transformations to address some of the major limitations and challenges related to the environmental and productivity domains. As far as productivity is concerned, the decrease of high-grade ores has been one of the stumbling blocks toward the achievement of maximum recovery of metals while, on the other hand, the complexity of minerals therein makes it difficult to profitably extract metals using only conventional methods. This book presents eight specialized chapters that focus on the exploration of the complexity of minerals that are likely to negatively influence the recovery of values, as well as the development of adequate technologies capable of improving the process of mineral concentration and/or metal recovery from complex minerals in a sustainable manner. It reviews the various physicochemical properties of minerals that are likely to pose a challenge during the attempt to recover values using conventional methods. It also elaborates on the recent technological development that has been considered by researchers to improve the recovery of metals from gangue-dominated minerals while ensuring cost-effectiveness and minimal adverse environmental impact. Audience This book will be of interest to academic researchers from the fields of mineral processing, hydrometallurgy, geochemistry, environment, chemistry, engineering, and professionals including mining plant operators, environmental managers in the industries, government regulatory bodies officers, and environmentalists.

Photocatalysts in Advanced Oxidation Processes for Wastewater Treatment comprehensively covers a range of topics aiming to promote the implementation of photocatalysis at large scale through provision of facile and green methods for catalysts synthesis and elucidation of pollutants degradation mechanisms. This book is divided into two main parts namely “Synthesis of effective photocatalysts” (Part I) and “Mechanisms of the photocatalytic degradation of various pollutants” (Part II). The first part focuses on the exploration of various strategies to synthesize sustainable and effective photocatalysts. The second part of the book provides an insights into the photocatalytic degradation mechanisms and pathways under ultraviolet and visible light irradiation, as well as the challenges faced by this technology and its future prospects.

There has been a resurgence of interest in light-induced water splitting as the search for storable carbon neutral energy becomes more urgent. Although the history of the basic idea dates back more than four decades, efficient, economical and stable integrated devices have yet to be realized. In the continuing quest for such devices, the field of photoelectrochemistry is entering a new phase where the extraordinary interdisciplinary of the research and development efforts are opening new avenues. This aspect of current research effort is reflected in the chapters of this book, which encompass present thinking in the various disciplines such as materials science, photo-electrochemistry and interfaces that can contribute to realization of viable solar fuel generators. This book presents a blend of the background science and recent advances in the field of photoelectrochemical water splitting, and includes aspects that point towards medium to long term future realization. The content of the book goes beyond the more traditional approaches to the subject by including topics such as novel excitation energy processes that have only been realized so far in advanced photonics. The comprehensive overview of current activities and development horizons provided by the impressive collection of internationally renowned authors therefore represents a unique reflection of current thinking regarding water splitting by light.

Hydrogen is a promising alternative as an energy carrier (and carbon-free fuel) to meet the global power demand. Hydrogen production systems can efficiently harvest energy from renewable sources. Even though photo-electrochemical systems offer an attractive potential for both hydrogen production and wastewater treatment systems, their application in industrial scales is not satisfactory. This thesis study proposes a trigeneration system for electricity, hydrogen and clean water production. TiO2 photocatalyst is used in a photoelectrochemical (PEC) reactor, which cleans the water via Fenton-like process and produces hydrogen. A novel solar thermoelectric generator (TEG) unit drives the reactor. For the hot side, the phase change material (PCM) which is heated by the concentrator feeds TEG, and the wastewater stream provides the cold surface. The PEC system is investigated experimentally while the design and calculations of the TEG-PCM sub-system are analyzed theoretically in this study. Moreover, in this study, the synergistic effects of advanced oxidation reactions (AOPs) in a combination of TiO2 photocatalysis are comparatively investigated for hydrogen production and wastewater treatment applications. The synergistic effects of Fenton, Fenton-like, photocatalysis (TiO2/UV) and UV photolysis (H2O2/UV) are investigated individually and in a combination of each other. The effects of various parameters, including pH, type of the electrode and electrolyte and the UV light, on the performance of the combined system are also investigated experimentally. A numerical modeling study is performed to predict the temperature, heat transfer rate and generated power distributions on the thermoelectric generator which is included in the integrated system. The thermodynamic properties of the matter flows at each stage and state point are obtained for the integrated system. The overall energy and exergy efficiencies of the integrated system are 5.2% and 5.5% respectively. The total cost rate of the system is determined to be 0.28 $/h from exergoeconomic analysis results. After 40 minutes of the operation time of the PEC reactor under 2.3V of practical cell potential and 60°C of cell temperature, the reactor produces 22.6 mg of hydrogen and removes 87% of COD. The proposed TEG unit configuration generates 551.2 W of electricity with 7.46% heat to electricity efficiency for the case when the temperature of wastewater is 25°C, and the molten salt is at phase changing temperature of 323°C.

Photoelectrocatalysis: Fundamentals and Applications presents an in-depth review of the topic for students and researchersworking on photoelectrocatalysis-related subjects from pure chemistry to materials and environmental chemistry inorder to propose applications and new perspectives. The main advantage of a photoelectrocatalytic process is the mildexperimental conditions under which the reactions are carried out, which are often possible at atmospheric pressure androom temperature using cheap and nontoxic solvents (e.g., water), oxidants (e.g., O2 from the air), catalytic materials (e.g.,TiO2 on Ti layer), and the potential exploitation of solar light. This book presents the fundamentals and the applications of photoelectrocatalysis, such as hydrogen production fromwater splitting, the remediation of harmful compounds, and CO2 reduction. Photoelectrocatalytic reactors and lightsources, in addition to kinetic aspects, are presented along with an exploration of the relationship between photocatalysisand electrocatalysis. In addition, photocorrosion issues and the application of selective photoelectrocatalytic organictransformations, which is now a growing field of research, are also reported. Finally, the advantages/disadvantages andfuture perspectives of photoelectrocatalysis are highlighted through the possibility of working at a pilot/industrial scale inenvironmentally friendly conditions. Presents the fundamentals of photoelectrocatalysis Outlines photoelectrocatalytic green chemistry Reviews photoelectrocatalytic remediation of harmful compounds, hydrogen production, and CO2 reduction Includes photocorrosion, photoelectrocatalytic reactors, and modeling along with kinetic aspects