Channelled optical fibre photoreactor for improved air quality control

• Published in: Chemical engineering science 2010-01, Vol.65 (2), p.882-889
• Main Authors: Denny, Frans, Scott, Jason, Peng, Gang-Ding, Amal, Rose
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Catalysis; Catalytic reactions; Channelled optical fibre; Chemical engineering; Chemistry; Ethylene; Exact sciences and technology; General and physical chemistry; Langmuir–Hinshelwood; Photocatalytic; Radiation; Reactor; Reactors; Theory of reactions, general kinetics. Catalysis. Nomenclature, chemical documentation, computer chemistry; Titanium dioxide
• ISSN: 0009-2509; 1873-4405
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ces.2009.09.038

An optical fibre reactor with 30 hexagonal-shaped channels distributed within the optical fibre structure was investigated as a gas-phase photocatalytic reactor. TiO 2 photocatalyst, with SiO 2 sol acting as a binder, was coated on the channel walls at a thickness of 1.5 μm. Effective light propagation lengths of 3.4 and 4.9 cm were observed for incidental angles of 81.5° and 87.1°, respectively. The TiO 2-coated channelled optical fibre reactor (COFR) was assessed for the photocatalytic degradation of gas-phase ethylene. The photocatalytic reaction rate of ethylene degradation was linear with respect to the incident photons. The reaction rate order for the incident photons was determined to be 0.93. Despite a longer effective light propagation length for an incidental angle of 87.1°, the quantum yield was independent of the incidental angle. The independence of the quantum yield on the incident photons and the angle of light incidence was attributed to the COFR design, where the propagating light was wholly confined within the reactor and, in turn, more effectively utilised by the TiO 2.