Purification of Aqueous Phase Deriving from Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Sewage Sludge via Organics Degradation with TiO2-Based Hybrid Materials

This communication presents the preliminary results regarding purification treatments of an aqueous phase, deriving as a by-product from hydrothermal liquefaction of sewage sludge (liquefaction carried out at 350°C for 10 min), in the presence of hybrid materials based on TiO2 that act as catalysts both in absence and presence of light. The aqueous phase to be purified in terms of its organic content was put in contact with two TiO2-based materials (synthesised via sol-gel technique), at a controlled temperature for 1 h, with a solid/liquid ratio equal to 20 g/L, both in absence and in presence of light. The effectiveness of the degradation process was analysed by UV-Vis technique.