Optimal radiation field in one-dimensional continuous flow heterogeneous photocatalytic reactors

A general kinetic model of oxidation in photocatalytic reactors has been used to describe the balances of active species and reactants. Approximate analytical solutions for two realistic cases have been developed for this model. Two particular cases (high conversion and low conversion of the reactant) were considered. It was found that both cases adequately represent the original non-linear system of equations in their respective ranges. The approximate analytical solutions for both cases were used to express the reactor output as a function of the axial distribution of radiation inside the vessel. As a result, an optimum radiation profile resulting in maximal output was found using optimal control methods. The latter involved forming the performance index and solving Euler-Lagrange equation. These profiles represent monotonically decreasing curves with higher intensity at the beginning of the reactor. The degree of enhancement by using the optimal radiation strategy was expressed as a ratio of the relative output concentration in the reactor to that in a uniformly irradiated photoreactor. For the case of high conversion this ratio monotonically decreased with the increase of the process parameters (such as light intensity and space time), while for the case of high conversion it passed through a minimum. An exhaustive parametric study was performed on the approximate analytical solution. The most meaningful parameters under identical irradiation conditions have been isolated, which significantly affect the reactor performance. These are: the ratio of radical generation to electron hole recombination rates, the ratio of radical recombination to surface reaction rates, and the surface reaction rate constant. The latter increases the importance of the non-linear terms in the equation, thus allowing for more significant optimization. On the contrary, relatively slow reaction is almost unaffected by the radiation profile in the reactor. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.