Energy efficient operation of photocatalytic reactors based on UV LEDs for pollution remediation in water

Photocatalytic technology using TiO2 is one of the emerging approaches for water treatment, especially as a final step to remove complex organics such as pesticides, hormones or humic acids. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a semiconductor material with strong UV absorption band and exhibits strong photocatalytic activity. The photocatalytic activity of TiO2 powders have been extensively studied, using UV light sources. However, the incident photons that initiate the process of photocatalytic oxidation using titanium dioxide are not efficiently used, this is responsible for the low photonic efficiency that characterise oxidation of aqueous pollutants hence its limitation in industrial applications. Periodic illumination has been investigated as a means of increasing the photonic efficiency in a photoreactor with acid orange as a model pollutant. Results indicate more than four-fold increase in photonic efficiency through periodic illumination compared to continuous illumination. This approach can improve the energy efficiency of the photocatalytic water treatment systems.