Photocatalytic sterilization of Escherichia coli
(bacterium) or Saccharomyces serevisiae (yeast)
was conducted with a rectangular bubble-column photoreactor (40 mm in
width, 40 mm in
breadth, and 250 mm in height) containing slurried TiO2
semiconductor particles. The profiles
of cell deactivation with sterilization time could be expressed in fair
agreement with experimental
data, based on a series-event model and a second-order kinetics with
respect to the concentrations
of microbial cells and oxidative radicals generated by photoexcitation
of TiO2 particles.
Sterilization rate constants for the microbes were determined
under various conditions of TiO2
concentrations (0−5 × 10-1 kg/m3) and
average light intensities (0−223 W/m2) in the
photoreactor.
Linear relationships were obtained between the rate constants and
average light intensity at
TiO2 concentration of 1 × 10-2
kg/m3. When incident light intensity was kept constant
(27 W/m2
for E. coli or 238 W/m2 for
S. cerevisiae), the correlations between the rate
constants and TiO2
concentration were interpreted considering a fraction of
TiO2 particles adhered to the cells in
slurry.
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