Conception and fabrication by stereolithography of a monolithic photocatalyst for air cleaning

The aim of the study is the fabrication by stereolithography of a monolithic photocatalyst and to use it in photocatalysis for air decontamination. The efficiency of the monolithic photocatalyst is controlled by both the kinetic rate and the external mass transfer rate. The global rate depends on a competition between the two regimes. The purpose of this paper is to quantify the influence of the geometry of the monolithic support on these two rates using methanol as a model pollutant. Three different geometries are tested: a honeycomb geometry, a static mixer geometry and a helix geometry. It appears that geometry has practically no influence on the external mass transfer rate since depends exclusively on the flow rate. However, the chemical kinetics is very influenced by the configuration of the support.