This document summarizes a student project on photocatalytic degradation of polluted water using zinc oxide. The students visited textile industries in Pithampur, collected water samples, and treated them using synthesized zinc oxide photocatalyst and visible light. They found the process effectively degraded dyes and reduced COD within 90 minutes. The students propose this as a low-cost and environmentally friendly water treatment solution that could help textile industries solve the problems of high costs and inconsistency of existing treatment plants.

1. NAME OF PARTICIPANTS:- SUHANI SHARma
AARADHYA RASSAY
ANIDHYA TIWARI
divesh chaudhari
Guided by :-- mr. shailendra patidar
DR. B.K. PASSI MEMORIAL SENIOR BALVIGYAN 2022
CLUSTER – III
THEME – TECHNOLOGY AND TOYS
TOPIC -- PHOTOCATALYTIC DEGRADATION OF WATER
SUB TOPIC – ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN

2. TOPIC :-
Photocatalytic
degradation of
Polluted Water

3. INTRODUCTION
• British poet W.H. Auden once noted, “Thousands have lived without love, not
one without water.” Yet while we all know water is crucial for life, we trash it
anyway. Some 80 percent of the world’s wastewater is dumped—largely
untreated—back into the environment, polluting rivers, lakes, and oceans.
• This widespread problem of water pollution is jeopardizing our health. Unsafe
water kills more people each year than war and all other forms of violence
combined. Meanwhile, our drinkable water sources are finite; Less than 1% of
the earth’s freshwater is actually accessible to us. Without action, the challenges
will only increase by 2050, when global demand for freshwater is expected to
be one-third greater than it is now.

4. • Water is an essential and basic need of human beings and aquatic lives.
Dye Industries produces more than 1,00,000 synthetic dyes with an annual
production of over 7lakh tones/year. Various industries used wide varieties
of dye in order to dye their product. 10-15% of the dye is lost to waste
streams as pollutants during dying process in the textile and paper industry.
These dyes are very carcinogenic, harmful and potential pollutants.
Therefore, proper treatment of effluent containing various dyes is
extremely necessary.

5. WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF WATER POLLUTION?
EFFECTS ON HUMAN HEALTH :-
• Water pollution kills. In fact, it caused 1.8 million deaths in 2015,
according to a study published . Contaminated water can also make you
ill. Every year, unsafe water sickens about 1 billion people. And low-
income communities are disproportionately at risk because their homes
are often close to the most polluting industries. Even in wealthy nations,
accidental and illegal release from sewage treatment facilities, as well as
runoff from farms and urban areas, contribute harmful pathogens to
waterways.

6. EFFECTS ON THE ENVIRONMENT
• When water pollution causes an algal bloom in a lake or marine
environment, the proliferation of newly introduced nutrients stimulates
plant and algae growth, which in turn reduces oxygen levels in the water.
This dearth of oxygen, known as eutrophication, suffocates plants and
animals and can create “dead zones,” where waters are essentially devoid
of life Chemicals and heavy metals from industrial and municipal
wastewater contaminate waterways as well. These contaminants are toxic
to aquatic life—most often reducing an organism’s life span and ability to
reproduce—and make their way up the food chain as predator eats prey.

7. Pithampur is a town in the Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh, India. Pithampur is
an industrial city, and has close proximity to Indore. Hence we visited to
various industries of Pithampur, collected water samples and treated in our
chemistry lab. Degradation of discharged dyes in the polluted water samples
was successfully investigated by heterogeneous photocatalysis which is an
environmental friendly and green technique. Photocatalysts ZnO have been
used to treatment of water samples.

9.  After your survey we conclude that 80% of water pollution is generated from
textile industries.
 Textile dyes are hazardous and carcinogenic as well as potential pollutants,
Dye Industries produces more than 1,00,000 synthetic dyes with an annual
production of over 7×105 tonnes/year.
10-15% of the dye is lost to waste streams as pollutants during dying process
in the textile and paper industry.

10. SO DO WE HAVE ANY SOLUTION FOR IT ?

11. YESSSS!!!!!
It is photocatalytic degradation of polluted
water by Zinc Oxide

12. WHAT IS PHOTOCATALYTIC DEGRADATION?
• Heterogeneous photocatalysis is an important advanced oxidation processes
(AOPs) which are the most widely used approach that is employed for
polluted water. Semiconductor metal oxides, ZnO have been utilized as
photocatalyst for their nontoxic nature, high photosensitivity, wide band
gap and high stability. Most of the catalysts are effective in Visible light
which is cause of cancer hence we have synthesized visible light responsive
Zinc oxide catalyst by extract of Eucalyptus through green chemical
method

13. • In this study, we have selected polluted water . Photocatalytic efficiency of Zinc Oxide
catalyst was studied by effect of various parameters such as Visible analysis of Polluted
water , oxidants, catalyst loading and dye concentration on the rate of degradation of
polluted water . Total degradation of polluted water was achieved by determination of
COD and visible analysis of treated sample . Overall degradation of polluted water was
achieved in 90 minutes.

14. OBJECTIVE
• Cleaning of polluted water by using catalyst in the presence of visible
light
• Cleaning of water without harming the environment
• To get pure water using only catalyst and using less resources and energy
# Clean Water Save Environment #

15. MATERIAL REQUIRED :-
• MAGNETIC STIRRER
• WASTE WATER
• WODDEN BOX
• LED LIGHT
• GLASSWARE
• SYNTEHISED ZnO

16. PROCEDURE :-
Degradation of polluted water by Green synthesized
Added to polluted water
Kept it Under LEDs light /Catalytic Assembly
Degradation Products H2O and CO2 and other minerals

17. INVESTIGATION :-
• Degradation of discharged dyes in the water samples was successfully investigated by
heterogeneous photocatalysis which is an environmental friendly and green technique.
Photocatalysts such as ZnO, etc. have been used to treatment of water samples.
Photocatalysis of dye was done by Zinc Oxide in the presence of LEDs irradiations as
source of visible light, since it is economically viable, cost effective and ecofriendly as
compared to convectional sources of light.

18. DATA TABLE
Waste Water
sample
COD ( before
treatment)
pH (before
treatment )
COD (after
treatment )
pH (after
treatment )

19. Mechanism

20. PROBLEM FACED BY ETP PLANT HEAD:-
In our visit to different ETP plants the plant head faced the following problems:-
• There was an inconsistency in the treated water.
• Most of the factories do not even have ETP plant for treatment of polluted water.
• The cost of ETP plant was very high around 7 lakh to 8 lakh.
• The plant also requires maintenance which cost them around RS. 5000 per month.
• The treated water was also either acidic or basic which was poured in garden for reuse.
• The time taken for this complete process is around 48 -72 hrs.

21. ADVANTAGES OF OUR MODEL :--
• As explained our project will just require a metal catalyst which will give 100%
result without any inconsistency .
• The plant will just require sunlight ,container (as per requirement),catalyst
and any source for its agitation .
• In absence of sunlight any artificial source of light (high intensity ) can also
be used .
• The cost of our plant will be just around Rs.1 lakh
• It also does not require any type of maintenance and have negligible
maintenance cost .
• the treated water will have normal pH around 7 so that it is safe to use for
various purpose .
• The time taken for this complete process is around 24 -30 hrs.

22. FURTHER SCOPE
• Can also be implemented on large scale and is implemented in various countries like United
States , Brazil and Russia.
• The cost of these plant in there countries is 1200 USD.
• Our model can also be implemented in India as the process requires addition of catalyst in
polluted water after sedimentation.
• The cost of our plant will be around Rs 1 lakh .
• The plant will only require sunlight , a big container and the catalyst .
• The capacity of the container can vary as per the amount of waste water generated in plant.
• The amount of catalyst require for treatment of 10000 litre of waste water is just 100 grams.

23. CONCLUSION
• Our project is research based and it will be implemented further in next few years for
degradation of polluted water
• We concluded that heterogeneous photocatalysis is eco-friendly, cost effective technique
and waste water treated effectively from this method.
• It hardly does have any external requirement and can be done by natural resources.
• The result obtained by this method is much better than the processes currently in use.