Photoreactor Analysis and Design: Fundamentals and Applications

CASSANO, A.E.; ALFANO, O.M.

Campinas (UNICAMP), SP Brasil

Congreso; III Encontro Sobre Aplicações Ambientais de Processos Oxidativos Avançados - III EPOA; 2005

UNICAMP

A general methodology for photoreactor analysis an design, based on the fundamentals of chemical reaction engineering and radiative transfer in participating media is presented. Two applications in the field of Advanced Oxidation Processes are considered to illustrate the proposed approach: (i) a homogeneous photo-Fenton solar reactor and (ii) a heterogeneous photocatalytic slurry reactor. In the first case, the procedure is illustrated with the degradation of a model pollutant by the Fenton and photo-Fenton reactions in a nonconcentrating, flat-plate solar reactor. Formic acid was chosen as the model substrate. The effect of the reaction temperature on the pollutant degradation rate, is also analyzed. In the case of the slurry photoreactor, the intrinsic kinetics of the photocatalytic decomposition of a toxic organic compound in aqueous solution, using suspended titanium dioxide catalytic particles and ultraviolet polychromatic radiation, is studied. The kinetic parameters are evaluated for different catalyst loadings, irradiation levels and initial concentrations of the pollutant. By means of these illustrative examples, the need of a systematic and rigorous approach to the analysis and design of photoreactors is emphasized.