Fang Han (PhD Student)
University of South Australia

Project Title
Development of novel nano-materials for organic dyes degradation in wastewater treatment.

Biography
Fang Han obtained her bachelor and master degrees in China. Her previous study involved heavy metal speciation analysis and influence of lower molecular weight organic acids on heavy metal uptake by plants. Fang is now a PhD Candidate in CERAR, UniSA sponsored by IPRS and CRC CARE Scholarships.

Start Date
March 2006

Project Details
Nowadays, organic dyes are extensively used in many fields of upto-date technology, e.g. textile industry, tanning industry, and paper production etc. It is estimated to be over 10,000 tons of dyes produced per year with 1-2% loss in production and 1-10% loss in use. It has caused non favorable pollution and eutrophication and can originate harmful byproducts. Undesirable outcomes have finally taken place on humans and animals, including fetal death, growth retardation, and congenital defects. It is practically essential to degrade organic dyes in wastewater aiming at achieving the desired degree of quality.

One promising technology has been studied extensively, that is advanced oxidation processes, which are characterized by production of reactive species with material acting as catalyst, which absorbs radiation and is in contact with water and oxygen. But its technological utility is restricted into limited practical applications due to material retrieval problem, reduced degradation efficiency, and the need of UV as excitation source etc.

This study focuses on development of novel nanomaterials with high degradation efficiency, easy separation from cleaned water, and solar light sensitive. Ultimately, we plan to apply the newly established techniques in the purification of real textile industry wastewater.