Modeling of photocatalytic oxidation of VOCs in a packed bed reactor under continuous and discontinuous illuminations

In this paper, a mathematical model is presented to describe the photocatalytic degradation of VOCs in a packed bed reactor. Here, the adsorption of VOCs on the wall of the reactor is taken into account and the diffusion of VOCs in the axial direction is neglected. First-order kinetics is used to describe the photocatalytic oxidation of VOCs. The analytical solution of the present model is obtained by traveling wave method. The solution shows that the reactor performance is totally dependent on the inlet concentration of VOCs when the time is large enough. The present model is validated through the experimental result of the photocatalytic oxidation of trichloroethylene in a packed bed and the predicted results accord well with the experimental data. The influence of flow rate and inlet concentration on the performance of the reactor is discussed in detail. High flow rate offers high reaction rate and low conversion efficiency. The different inlet conditions and different reaction patterns are also investigated. The model would be useful to estimate the rate constant and help to the design of the reactor.