A photocatalytic impeller reactor for gas phase heterogeneous photocatalysis.

Tokode, Oluwatosin; Prabhu, Radhakrishna; Lawton, Linda A.; Robertson, Peter K.J.

Abstract

A novel photocatalytic reactor based on a stirred tank configuration has been described. This reactor employs the use of photocatalytic impellers to aid the mass transport of gaseous organic compounds during photocatalytic reactions. Experiments involving toluene vapour photo-oxidation showed the reactor configuration is susceptible to catalyst deactivation even at low concentrations if treated for prolonged periods. For this reactor, the reactive time scale exceeds the diffusive time scale hence, toluene photo-oxidation was reaction limited. The dependency of photonic efficiency of the reaction on mass transfer and catalyst deactivation was observed when correlated with the Damk{uml}ohler number and deactivation induced reduction reaction rates respectively. The results show an inverse variation with Damk{uml}ohler number and proportionality to reaction rates.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Aug 31, 2017
• Journal: Journal of environmental chemical engineering
• Print ISSN: 2213-3437
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 3942-3948
• Institution Citation: TOKODE, O., PRABHU, R., LAWTON, L.A. and ROBERTSON, P.K.J. 2017. A photocatalytic impeller reactor for gas phase heterogeneous photocatalysis. Journal of environmental chemical engineering [online], 5(4), pages 3942-3948. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2017.07.068
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2017.07.068
• Keywords: Titanium dioxide; Thin film; Reactor engineering; Photocatalysis; Catalyst deactivation