Reactors for Application in Heterogeneous Photocatalysis

Abstract

The present paper is a literature survey of some representative works conducted in the filed of photocatalytic reactors approaching the major issues should be considered in development of commercially available photocatalytic systems for different purposes: whether to use suspended or supported catalysts and whether to use concentrated or nonconcentrating sunlight. Different photoreactor configurations and experimental setups containing such systems used for study of varied liquid-phase or gas-phase pollutants degradation under artificial UV light irradiation were described. The common problems encountered in design of photocatalytic reactors were discussed and few modalities for increasing their performances were proposed. Pilot-scale experiments employing different (concentrating, non-concentrating and low-concentrating) photocatalytic solar devices were also presented and compared in terms of their efficiencies in water detoxification applications. The advantages and disadvantages of these photocatalytic solar technologies were reviewed in order to assess the possibilities to extend their application at industrial scale.

Photocatalytic Degradation of Synthetic Textile Effluent by Modified Sol-Gel, Synthesized Mobilized and Immobilized TiO2, and Ag-doped TiO2

“…Trends observed in the process of photocatalytic degradation of synthetic textile effluent with different types of catalysts were as follows ( Maximum degradation took place when Ag-TiO 2 (mesh) (UV 400W) is used as compared to TiO 2 , because of the slow combination of electron hole pair and large surface area of the mesh [35,19]. When titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) is radiated with intensity of band gap energy (3.2Ev), it generates electrons of band (eCB)-and hoes in valance band (hVB)+.…”

“…Birnie et al [34] have extensively reviewed the photocatalytic reactors currently in use. Caliman and Balasanian [35] and Serrano et al [36] have reported the performance of the reactor as a function of its dimension. However, photocatalytic reactors that provide better configuration to maximize efficiency of photon utilization are considered suitable [37][38][39].…”