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Published February 1, 1998 | public
Journal Article

Mathematical Model of a Photocatalytic Fiber-Optic Cable Reactor for Heterogeneous Photocatalysis

Abstract

A basic mathematical model to describe the degradation of a single compound in a fiber-optic bundled array photocatalytic batch reactor (OFR) using a Langmuir−Hinshelwood kinetic expression is developed. An empirical global quantum efficiency, φ_(global), that incorporates reaction parameters such as the absorbed light intensity, intrinsic rate constants, concentration of adsorbed reactants, and reaction intermediates is used as a fitting parameter. An empirical term to describe the radiation field within the coated fiber is derived experimentally and normalized by the photocatalyst particle concentration within the fiber optic coating to account for the inverse relationship observed between absorbed light intensity and reaction quantum efficiency. Results of the mathematical model are compared to experimental data generated in an OFR for the photocatalytic oxidation of 4-chlorophenol (4CP), pentachlorophenol (PCP), and dichloroacetate (DCA). The global quantum efficiency, φglobal, was found to be independent of absorbed light intensity. Calculated kinetic profiles are in excellent agreement with experimental observation.

Additional Information

© 1998 American Chemical Society. Received for review October 11, 1996. Revised manuscript received October 24, 1997. Accepted November 3, 1997. Publication Date (Web): January 1, 1998. We are grateful to ARPA, NSF (BES-9619885), and ONR (NAV 5 HFMN N000149J1901) for financial support and to Prof. George Gavalas, Janet Kesselman, and Tom Lloyd for their helpful discussions. We would also like to thank 3M and Degussa for their donations of the optical fiber samples and the P25 photocatalyst, respectively.

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 23, 2023