Effect of photocatalyst film geometry on radiation absorption in a solar reactor, a multiscale approach

Annual Optical Performance of a Solar CPC Photoreactor with Multiple Catalyst Support Configurations by a Multiscale Model

“…This software allows obtaining hourly irradiance values through the year for a particular location, employing numerical algorithms coupled to preexisting data from weather stations. In particular, UVA irradiance values were utilized in this analysis, which correspond to the region of the spectrum where the anatase TiO 2 photocatalyst is active [7]. Four typical days (March 21, June 21, September 21, and December 21) were chosen to present the results (see Figure 2), as they represent best the behavior of the angular position of the sun focusing on the CPC throughout the year.…”

“…The CMM allows obtaining the optical response of thin film multilayers based on an electromagnetic description [22]. The application of this theory to glass-supported anatase films has been described in a previous publication [7], and only a brief description is presented here. The reflectance…”

“…While most of the available literature in photoreactor modeling focuses on suspended photoreactors, their supported counterpart still lacks a unified approach [7]. In this regard, the use of pseudocontinuum approximations [8] or empirical models [9] is a common choice.…”

“…Manassero et al [21] have carried out experimental comparison and Monte Carlo modeling of suspended and fixed catalyst photoreactors. Recently, our research group proposed a multiscale approach [7] using different methods at the support and the reactor scale. The methods employed are the characteristic matrix method [22] and the Monte Carlo ray tracing method.…”

“…In this paper, the assessment of the year-round optical performance of a supported solar CPC photocatalytic reactor is carried out. This evaluation is achieved by coupling meteorological software and a ray tracing software to generate 3D incoming radiation profiles as input for the multiscale model presented by Valadés-Pelayo et al [7]. Given that no studies in the literature consider the geometrical arrangement (number and disposition) of the tubes, six different arrays are considered.…”