Removal of gas-phase benzene in an immobilized photocatalytic reactor

Authors

  • Krishnan Jagannathan Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan
  • Tyagarajan Swaminathan Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, Tamilnadu

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20450/mjcce.2011.36

Keywords:

photocatalysis, gas-phase benzene, titanium dioxide, immobilized photoreactor, statistically designed experiments

Abstract

The photocatalytic degradation of gas-phase benzene was studied in an immobilized – annular tube reactor using titanium dioxide as the photocatalyst. The main and interaction effects due to the influence of essential process parameters such as catalyst load (5 to 20 g·m–2), benzene concentration (0.2 – 3.1 g·m–3) and flow rate (0.2 to 1 l·min–1 corresponding to residence times of 14 s and 70 s respectively) on the removal of benzene were investigated, by carrying out experiments that were designed to express statistical significance. The main effects plot and Pareto plot provided good insight into the effect of different parameters on the removal of gas-phase benzene. A new, statistical measurement suggests that low gas–phase benzene concentration is more important for maintaining high removal efficiencies (96 %) in the photocatalytic reactor than both catalyst load and flow rate.

References

Minnesota Department of Health Fact Sheet, March 2004, www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/air.

W. Wang, L.W. Chiang, Y. Ku, Decomposition of benzene in air streams by UV/TiO2 process, J. Ha¬zard. Mater. B101, 133–146 (2003).

Z. Pengyi, L. Fuyan, Y. Gang, C. Qing, Z. Wanpeng, A comparative study on decomposition of gase¬ous toluene by O3/UV, TiO2/UV and O3/TiO2/UV, J. Photochem. Photobiol. A: Chem. 156, 189–194 (2003).

D.F. Ollis, H. Al-Ekabi, in: Photocatalytic Purificati¬on and Treatment of Water, 481– 494, Elseiver, Am-sterdam, The Netherlands, 1993.

R.M. Alberici, W.F. Jardim, Photocatalytic destruc¬tion of VOCs in the gas-phase using titanium diox¬ide, Appl. Catal. B: Environ. 14, 55–68 (1997).

O. d’Hennezel, P. Pichat, D. F. Ollis, Benzene and toluene gas-phase photocatalytic degradation over H2O and HCl pretreated TiO2: by-products and mechanism, J. Photochem. Photobiol. A: Chem. 118, 197–204 (1998).

X. Deng, Y. Yue, Z. Gao, Gas-phase photo-oxida¬tion of organic compounds over nanosized TiO2 photocatalysts by various preparations, App. Catal. B:Environ. 39, 135–147 (2002).

C.G. Sirisuk, Jr. Hill, M. A. Anderson, Photocata¬lytic degradation of ethylene over thin films of titania supported on glass rings, Catal. Today 54, 159–164 (1999).

S. Hager, R. Bauer, Heterogeneous photocatalytic oxidation of organics for air purification by near UV irradiated titanium dioxide, Chemosp. 38, 1549–1559 (1999).

J. Jeong, K. Sekiguchi, K. Sakamoto, Photochemi¬cal and photocatalytic degradation of gaseous tolu¬ene using short-wavelength UV irradiation with TiO2 catalyst: comparison of three UV sources, Chemosp. 57, 663–671 (2004).

O.H. Park, C.S. Kim, Experimental study on the treatment of volatile organic compound vapors using a photoreactor equipped with photocatalyst-coated fabrics, J. Appl. Pol.Sci. 91, 3174–3179 (2004).

M. Mohseni, A. David, Gas-phase vinyl chloride oxi¬dation using TiO2-based Photocatalysis, App. Catal. B: Environ. 46, 219–228 (2003).

D. C. Montgomery, Design and Analysis of Experi¬ments, 3rd ed., Wiley, New York, 1991.

M. Lewandowski, D.F. Ollis, A Two-site kinetic model simulating apparent deactivation during pho-tocatalytic oxidation of aromatics on titanium dioxide (TiO2), App. Catal. B: Environ. 43, 309–327 (2003).

N.N. Lichtin, M. Sadeghi, Oxidative photocatalytic degradation of benzene vapor over TiO2, J. Photo¬chem. Photobiol. A: Chem. 113, 81–88 (1998).

J.H. Wang, M.B. Ray, Application of ultraviolet pho¬tooxidation to remove organic pollutants in the gas phase, Sep. Puri.Tech. 19, 11–20 (2000).

X. Fu, W.A. Zeltner, M.A. Anderson, The gas-phase photocatalytic mineralization of benzene on porous titania-based catalysts, App. Catal. B: Environ. 6, 209–224 (1995).

Downloads

Published

2011-12-05

How to Cite

Jagannathan, K., & Swaminathan, T. (2011). Removal of gas-phase benzene in an immobilized photocatalytic reactor. Macedonian Journal of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, 30(2), 221–228. https://doi.org/10.20450/mjcce.2011.36

Issue

Vol. 30 No. 2 (2011)

Section

Chemical Engineering

License

The authors agree to the following licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

  • Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
  • for any purpose, even commercially.
The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

 Under the following terms:

  • Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

  • NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.