New UV-LED frontal flow photocatalytic reactor for VOCs treatment: Compactness, intensification and optimization studies

This study investigates and provides a solution for optimizing the photocatalytic treatment of toxic gases based on the use of TiO2 media deposited on luminous textiles. The target was the cyclohexane referent for the type A gas filtration tests. The photocatalytic supports were characterized by scanning electron microscopy. Then, the experiments conducted on a batch reactor showed that the TiO2-coated optical fiber media (in situ illumination configuration) performs better than conventional configuration (cellulosic TiO2 with external radiation UV lamp. To take advantage of the new optical fiber media configuration, an intensification study was carried out by increasing the amount of TiO2 in the media and UV intensities of LED. Increasing these two parameters leads to an approximately fourfold increase in the degradation rate. The continuous treatment allowed the study to highlight the efficiency of the new configuration of the front flow reactors developed (PFR-LED) compared to the conventional configuration. This increased efficiency is demonstrated by the fourfold increase in the specific degradation rate of the optimized PFR-LED compared to the conventional reactor. The performance evaluation of the compact and optimized configurations of the frontal flow reactor (PFR-LED Optimized) aimed to highlight the influence of the inlet concentration under different flow rates. Furthermore, the effect of the number of optical fiber supports shows that the degradation rate and selectivity are enhanced. The results were obtained using four photocatalytic media (4OF/4UV-LED) for 1.19 mmol.m � 3 of cyclohexane input concentration at 18 L. min-1 of flow rate under optimal humidity conditions (38 %), constituting the ultimate rate of CO2 selectivity achieved (31 %) for an abatement of 59 %. This global investigation has allowed for the design of a new version of a compact reactor.This reactor provides an economical and efficient way to eliminate gaseous pollutants, which clearly meets the main aims of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

Automated summary

This study investigates the optimization of photocatalytic treatment of toxic gases using TiO2-coated luminous textiles. The results show that the new configuration of optical fiber media with increased TiO2 and LED intensity significantly improves the degradation rate. The use of the optimized front flow reactor (PFR-LED) achieves higher specific degradation rate compared to the conventional reactor, and the inlet concentration and number of optical fiber supports further enhance the degradation rate and selectivity.