Photocatalytic air purification: Comparative efficacy and pressure drop of a TiO2-coated thin mesh and a honeycomb monolith at high air velocities using a 0.4 m3 close-loop reactor

Photocatalytic purifiers, which are in development for treating gaseous effluents at flow rates generally higher than several tens of m(3) h(-1), usually employ TiO2-coated materials either as planar or folded fibrous filters, or as honeycomb monoliths. Our primary objective was to compare the photocatalytic efficacy of two types of these materials using a ca. 0.4 m(3) close-loop, air tight, photocatalytic reactor we built at EDF. This loop - through which air can be flowed at rates from 16 to 1800 m(3) h(-1), i.e. 0.11-12.25 m s(-1) - includes a paralleliped (560 mm x 295 mm x 200 mm) into which alternate banks of lamps and TiO2 coated-materia Is (entrance area= 408 cm(2)) can be accommodated. The materials tested were (i) an Ahlstrom-supplied, thin, non-woven tissue dried at room temperature after impregnation with both Degussa TiO2 P-25 and colloidal SiO2 used as a binder and (ii) an aluminum honeycomb-shaped material we coated with Degussa TiO2 P-25 and dried at room temperature. U-shaped lamps emitting at 254 run and having an electrical power of 18 or 35 W were employed. The geometries of the materials and the spatial arrangements of the lamps and materials provided an irradiance of the materials as high and homogeneous as possible according to our modeling [Catal. Today 122 (2007) 66-77]. Methanol was chosen as the test pollutant because it is easily mineralized, which minimized the inhibition of the photocatalytic activity by intermediate products. In the recirculation regime, the initial rates of methanol removal observed for the folded tissue were multiplied by at least four - depending on the numbers of materials and banks of three 35 W lamps - when the honeycomb material was utilized. Several factors can add to cause this high increase in efficacy: distinct shapes and TiO2 supports, differences in photons scattering, and the reduced accessibility of reactants to TiO2 because of SiO2. Regarding energy consumption, the use of two photocatalytic materials sandwiching one bank of three 35 W lamps instead of one material in-between two banks of three lamps led to about the same efficacy. The honeycomb material was also tested with toluene at an initial concentration corresponding to the same amount of carbon as when methanol was the pollutant. The removal rate and CO2 formation rate were lower for toluene than for methanol, which can be easily explained by a lower reactivity with respect to oxidation, a smaller adsorbed amount and a higher competition with the more numerous degradation intermediate products. That comparison illustrates the need of trials for every effluent to be treated. Considerable differences in pressure drop between the two materials clearly demonstrated another interest of using honeycomb shapes, at least for the materials and configurations investigated. Furthermore, a deactivation, together with a yellowing, was noticed at high irradiance for the Ahlstrom tissue, which included cellulose fibers. Folding the material enables one to employ lower irradiances for minimizing this effect, while maintaining the efficacy because of the increase in the material area in the reactor, as well as slightly lowering the pressure drop. (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.