Abstract: “Factors affecting the degradation efficiency of one of the major persistent organic waste water pollutant 4-nitrophenol such as light source, photocatalyst load, maximum concentration of 4-nitrophenol, pH and period of irradiation are the main focus concern in the present work. Results obtained revealed the maximum photocatalyst loading and pollutant concentration to be 0.75g and 100ppm respectively with a pseudo-first-order decomposition reaction kinetics. The efficiency of 1:2 acryonitrile modified polymer/ZnO nanocomposite was found to be 96.47% after 120mins of exposure period which is higher as compared with the pure ZnO and the ordinary grafted cassava with 91% TOC removal ability. Incorporating of 1:2 acryonitrile modified polymer/ZnO was also found to increase the surfaced area and pore volume of the ZnO matrix thus increasing its porosity and visible light absorption which is the reason for the increased degradation efficiency.”

Keywords: microwave, Phenol, Photocatalysis, Polymer, ZnO