Effect of mass transfer and catalyst layer thickness on photocatalytic reaction

Semiconductor photocatalytic processes have been studied for nearly 20 years dire to their intriguing advantages in environmental remediation. A rational approach in determining the effect of mass transfer and catalyst layer thickness during photocatalytic reactions is proposed. The reaction occurs at the liquid-catalyst interface, and therefore when the catalyst is immobilized, both external and internal mass transfer plays significant roles in overall photocatalytic processes. Several model parameters-external mass-transfer coefficient dynamic adsorption equilibrium constant adsorption rate constant, internal mass-transfer coefficient, and effective diffusivity-were determined either experimentally or by fitting realistic models to experimental results using benzoic acid as a model component. Even though all these parameters are critical to the design and development of photocatalytic processes, they are not available in the literature. The effect of the internal mass transfer on the photocatalytic degradation rate over different catalyst layer thicknesses under two different operating configurations was analyzed theoretically and experimentally verified. It was observed that an optimal catalyst layer thickness exists for substrate-to-catalyst illumination.