A Laboratory Reactor for Photocatalytic Studies in Slurry Operation

CASSANO, ALBERTO ENRIQUE; ALFANO, ORLANDO MARIO; MARTIN, CARLOS ALBERTO; BRANDI, RODOLFO JUAN

Journal of Advanced Oxidation Technologies

Science and Technology Network Inc.

Año: 2002 vol. 5 p. 175 - 185

Slurry photocatalytic reactors are the most widely used reacting systems in applications concerning the use of solid catalysts to enhance the chemical reactivity of a large variety of chemical reactions conducted in the liquid phase. One particular aspect give to these reactions a unique characteristic: absorption of light by the solid can not be separated from scattering, turning more difficult the analysis of kinetic information and the design of practical reactors. This paper describes in a very succinct manner the way to perform a rigorous analysis of these reactions and reactors. Starting always from fundamental principles and using mathematical modeling as the main tool, we show the methods to tackle all problems derived from the system heterogeneities. The procedure is illustrated with the design and analysis of a laboratory reactor. The objective is the acquisition of kinetic parameters that must be independent of the reactor geometry, size and form of illumination. This type of information constitutes the only data that are useful for reactor design and scale-up.