Photocatalytic Nitrate Destruction Studies in Complex Environments

One method for denitration of nitric acid used in nuclear facilities is to use formic acid as a reductant. The major problem with formic acid denitration is an induction period of varying duration that may result in excessive accumulation of formic acid at the reaction onset. This accumulation poses an off-gas process control issue. In this paper, we will describe the use of titania-based photocatalystsPhotocatalysts for the treatment of nitric acid and nitrateNitrate wastesWaste. We find that the photocatalytic process is a simple and straightforward method to completely destroy nitrateNitrate ions at room temperature without any initiation period.