Effect of spatial radiation distribution on photocatalytic oxidation of methylene blue in gas-liquid-solid mini-fluidized beds

Radiation intensity is commonly assumed to be the same for simplification in a lab-scale photoreactor, however, the radiation along propagating direction attenuates exponentially owing to the absorption and scattering of photons by catalysts and bubbles. Hence, it is necessary to develop a model that can predict the spatial radiation distribution (SRD), which is a critical factor in designing industrial-scale photoreactors. In this study, a SRD model was developed to compute the radiation intensity as a function of the volume fraction of the medium and the distance between the observation point and the source. Subsequently, numerical simulations and analyses for the gas-liquid-solid mini-fluidized bed were performed by coupling the proposed SRD model with the reaction kinetic model based on a three-dimensional hybrid Euler-Lagrange method. The simulation results fit well with experimental data. Furthermore, the radiation intensity and the hydrodynamic factors exert different impacts on the degradation ratio with increasing reaction time, respectively. Under low concentration, the main influence on the degradation ratio is hydrodynamics, including reactant mass fraction, air volume fraction and catalyst volume fraction. The developed model is of potential value in industrial photocatalytic reactors.