TY - THES A1 - Geurts, Nick T1 - Photodecompostion of Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate Using a UV/H2O2 Reactor with Ultraviolet-C Light Emitting Diodes N2 - Anionic surfactants are used in many common household products, such as dishwashing detergents or soaps. Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) is one of the most prominent surfactants and can cause substantial damage to the environment. Removal from wastewater is therefore a significant problem. This thesis investigates the photochemical decomposition of SDS using ultraviolet-c light emitting diodes (UV-C LEDs) and hydrogen peroxide. The experiments were performed with a surfactant concentration of 10 mg L which is actually found in wastewater after hand washing. Direct exposure to UV radiation to destroy organic compounds is generally seen as inefficient and consumes a large amount of energy. Adding hydrogen peroxide significantly increased the destruction rate due to the UV-induced formation of hydroxyl radicals. It was also investigated how the effectiveness of the reactor can be further increased. The use of a photocatalyst (titanium dioxide) improved the removal efficiency of SDS substantially. The data generated in this work indicates that using UV-C LEDs in a UV/H2O2 reactor works, and the process was significantly more efficient than only UV radiation. The ease of handling the diodes and implementing them into the reactor offers a significant advantage over other light sources. The standard SDS determination method is known to be very time-consuming. Therefore, a new approach was developed. This technique works faster than the commonly used one and has a low standard deviation. Photodecomposition of the investigated impurity is possible. In the future, development will concentrate on the realisation and system integration of UV/H2O2 reactors, as a common technology in the product family of OPHARDT Hygiene AG. KW - Advanced oxidation processes KW - Hydrogen peroxide KW - Sodium dodecyl sulfate KW - Titanium dixoide KW - UV-C LEDs Y1 - 2022 ER -