ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING SCIENCE

Volume 36, Number 12, 2019

ª Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
DOI: 10.1089/ees.2019.0196

A Methodology for Modeling Photocatalytic Reactors,

Application to the Degradation of Formaldehyde
Peng Liu,1,* Jun Lu,2 Jinyu An,1 and Jie Zheng2
1
College of Civil Engineering, Guizhou University, Guiyang, China.
2
College of Urban Construction and Environmental Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China.

Received: May 8, 2019 Accepted in revised form: July 26, 2019

Abstract
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This article dealt with the photocatalytic oxidation of formaldehyde, a representative indoor contaminant
contained in air. A numerical model was developed for analyzing the degradation of formaldehyde based on
experimentally estimated kinetic parameters. This was achieved by constructing two different configuration
reactors operating under kinetic control regime and different steady conditions. The radiation and velocity fields
of the reactors were simulated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods. The reactors were installed
on an external recirculation loop, and the processed air was reintroduced into a 1.95 m3 environmental chamber.
The geometry design made the overall conversion of folded-plate reactor increase almost 40% relative to
the plate reactor under a typical run. Studies also found that the overall conversion of formaldehyde showed
good agreement between model predictions and experimental performances. The removal performance in the
folded-plate reactor was obviously improved by enlarging the reaction area, increasing the residence time, and
enhancing the radiation interchange. The relative high degradation efficiency was observed at relatively low
relative humidity. The simulation results depicted that the radiation intensity was nearly uniformly increasing
with distance along the surface, the velocity distribution was uniform in general, and most of the air passed
through the triangular channel from the upper portion. The numerical model and CFD simulations could address
a better reactor design and allow a better understanding of photocatalytic processes.

Keywords: catalytic reactor; CFD simulation; formaldehyde; numerical model; photocatalytic oxidation

Introduction adhesives and emitted from furnishing, carpeting, paints, and

cigarettes ( Jiang et al., 2017). HCHO’s indoor concentration
T he increasing use of synthetic building materials and
furnishings, which emit harmful contaminants, has re-
sulted in the gradual degradation of indoor air quality (IAQ)
may reach up to 2.5 mg/m3; in this range, it can produce
headache, nausea, and eye irritation (Norback et al., 2017).
Unfortunately, recent study categorized HCHO as a human
(Huang et al., 2018). Poor IAQ will significantly affect
carcinogen (Passalı́a et al., 2012).
human health and cause economic losses (Boulanger et al.,
Traditional methods of HCHO decontamination include
2017). Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are among the
thermal oxidation (Xu et al., 2011), activated carbon ad-
chemical indoor air pollutants and due to their low boiling
sorption (Sidheswaran et al., 2012), and biological treat-
points, they are easy to evaporate. Nowadays, the VOC con-
ment (Aydogan and Montoya, 2011). These methods are not
centrations in indoor air are tending to be higher than that
entirely satisfactory, requires high temperature operation, or
allowed by the standards. Some of VOCs may be associated
produce liquid-solid phase secondary pollution, with long
with sick building syndrome, such as fatigue, allergic reactions,
retention time.
and membrane irritations (Norback et al., 2017).
Photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) is an innovative and
Formaldehyde (HCHO) is one of the most dominant VOCs
promising approach for the quick and economical removal of
and can cause serious indoor air pollution, which makes
VOCs from indoor air (Kamal et al., 2016). The air purification
HCHO the most studied one (Salthammer, 2019). HCHO is
technique of PCO commonly uses nano-semiconductor cata-
the simplest aliphatic aldehyde and has a strong smell at
lysts and ultraviolet (UV) light to convert VOCs in indoor air
ambient temperature. HCHO is a wildly used chemical in
into benign and odorless constituents, namely H2O and CO2.
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a widely used photocatalyst and
*Corresponding author: College of Civil Engineering, Guizhou
this semiconductor is chemically inert, safe, environmen-
University, Guiyang 550025, China. Phone: +86-18300865032; tally friendly, easy to use, and able to catalyze reactions effi-
Fax: +86-0851-83625176; E-mail: liupeng1330@163.com ciently (Seidmohammadi et al., 2018; Yari et al., 2019). The

1474
 A METHODOLOGY FOR MODELING PHOTOCATALYTIC REACTOR
schematic of PCO process using TiO2 as catalyst is that, when
the absorbed photon has sufficient energy, the TiO2 will be
irradiated and generate highly reactive electron-hole pairs.
Only if the recombination of electron-hole pairs is limited, the
generated hole can oxidize the adsorbed hydroxyl groups and
form the hydroxyl radical (OH$), that is the dominant strong
oxidant. Its net reaction with a VOC can be expressed as
OH$ +VOC +O2 /CO2+H2O. The PCO process is imple-
mented under ambient temperature and pressure and has the
potential to decompose a broad range of VOCs, including some
compounds that are hardly mineralized by other techniques
(Stucchi et al., 2018). Compared with other advanced tech-
nologies, UV-PCO processes using TiO2 have several advan-
tages: (1) the processes are safe, (2) the TiO2 is mild oxidant
and not expensive, and (3) the degradation reactions are acti-
vated at ambient temperature and with no recontamination.
Various PCO reactors have already been successfully
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developed for photocatalytic reaction characterization and
kinetic measurements; the plate, honeycomb monolith, and
annular are three representative types (Mo et al., 2009). The
removal rates of these reactors are generally obtained by
experimental methods and they are usually expressed with
Langmuir-Hinshelwood (L-H) kinetic equation (unim-
olecular or bimolecular) (Zhong et al., 2017). However, as
the constants in L-H equation vary depending on the tem-
perature, UV intensity, and reactor configuration, a lot of
experiments are needed. Some numerical models, integrat-
ing mass and radiation transfer and heterogeneous reaction
kinetics, have been applied for the prediction of otherwise
expensive and time-consumptive experiments, providing an
understanding of the capability and limitations of the PCO
reactor (Nakahara et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2019). Also,
these numerical approaches have gradually become a reli-
able tool to assist reactor design and optimization. Recent
reports also demonstrate that computational fluid dynamics
(CFD) approach is a powerful tool and its computational
capabilities are sufficiently large to simulate very different
kinds of processes, including photocatalytic reactions.
There have been lots of valuable contributions in the CFD
simulating approach for gas-phase photocatalytic reactors
(Verbruggen et al., 2015; Gauvin et al., 2018).
In this study, a simple numerical model for evaluating the
effectiveness of air contaminant removal in the PCO reactors
was introduced. The target pollutant selected was HCHO.
Based on the application of experimentally determined kinetic
parameters in two different configuration reactors, the pre-
1475
diction and evaluation of the HCHO removal performances
were modeled and contrasted. Then, the radiation and velocity
fields were simulated using CFD methods. The modeling re-
sults could address useful information for the PCO reactor
design and optimization.
Materials and Methods
Experimental details
Experimental setup. The kinetic parameters were ex-
perimentally determined in two different configuration re-
actors, plate and folded plate (Fig. 1). HCHO was selected as
the target air pollutant. The reactors were made of Plexiglas
and stainless steel as a support for the TiO2 catalyst. The
Plexiglas used to build the reactor wall was transparent.
Compressed synthetic air (mixture of O2 and N2 with volume
ratio 21:79) was supplied by a compressed cylinder. The
purified dry air passed through a mass flow controller and was
then divided into two streams. One stream passed through an
HCHO generator, while the other passed through a humidi-
fier. The HCHO-enriched air mixed with water vapor satu-
rated stream in the mixing box. The mixed gas was supplied
through a mass flow controller to the reactor. The initial
HCHO concentration in supply air was controlled from 1.0 to
3.0 ppm. Commercial HCHO aqueous solutions were com-
monly stabilized with methanol and should not be used to
generate gas-phase formaldehyde mixture. For that reason,
the HCHO-enriched air was obtained by on-line generation of
monomeric gaseous formaldehyde by controlled sublimation
of paraformaldehyde.
The reactors were irradiated by two sets of three 15W
germicidal lamps (TUV15W PHILIPS, 254 nm) positioned in
an aligned arrange. The original radiation intensity from UV
lamp was measured before the PCO reaction began, and the
value was assumed to remain unchanged during the experi-
ment. For the measurement, a UVC power meter was used
with the sensor close to the lamp surface tightly (Shenzhen
Linshang Technology Co. Ltd., LS126C, CHN). The UV
light spreading out would be reflected back to the plates by
the arching reflecting boards. This design could provide en-
hanced radiation flux over the catalytic surface. The reactors
were installed on an external recirculation loop and operated
in recirculation mode, by reintroducing processed air into
an environmental chamber. The chamber had a volume of
1.95 m3 and was built from gas-tight stainless steel with no
VOC sources or sinks. A variable-speed centrifugal fan
FIG. 1. Experimental layout of
reactors.
 1476 LIU ET AL.

FIG. 2. Schematic of the reactors: (a)

Plate reactor (b) Folded-plate reactor.

operating inside the chamber supplied the required recircula- Experimental conditions and methods. The operation
tion rate. The airflow at the recirculation loop was measured by conditions were summarized in Table 2. The commercial
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a mass flow controller (Nanjing SENLOD Measurement and
Control Co. Ltd., MF5712-N-200, CHN).
The air samples were collected by Tenax tubes from the
chamber, and the samples were analyzed by Agilent GC-MS
5973N. The experimental system was operated for about
15 min without turning on the UV lamp in the reactor to
stabilize the concentration of air flowing through the system
and to check the initial concentration of HCHO when stabi-
lized. The UV lamp was then turned on to activate the PCO
reaction, and the concentration of HCHO was monitored until
the experimental system reached a new steady state. The
catalyst was regenerated after each experiment by continuous
UV illumination and flow of clean air through the reactor
overnight.
The plate reactor consisted of a rectangular wall and six
stainless steel plates (200 · 40 · 4 mm) connected in parallel
(Fig. 2a). It operated in a continuous flow with three inlets/
outlets, so a well-distributed flow and air concentration pro-
files in the cross-section were obtained.
The folded-plate reactor had 12 plates (200 · 40 · 4 mm),
and adjacent plates were folded into an angle of 60, forming
11 triangular channels inside the reactor (Fig. 2b). Each of the
12 plates had a triangular gap (10 · 40 mm) at one end, thus
making this reactor a continuous single-pass reactor. The air
pollutants could flow in a zigzag pattern from one channel to
another and the changes in direction might act as static mixers
that renewed the velocity field of air pollutants.
The two different configuration reactors had the same ef-
fective volume, but their reaction area was quite different.
The symmetry configuration of the triangular channel in the
folded-plate reactor increased the inner space utilization rate;
thus, the reaction area was greatly increased and the fractional
conversion was, therefore, obviously enhanced. More de-
tails on PCO reactor dimensions are shown in Table 1.
Degussa P25 TiO2 was used as the photocatalyst, and the
TiO2 particles were deposited on the stainless steel plate
through a sol-gel process (Ranjitha et al., 2013). P25 TiO2
was used widely in air purification with a primary particle
diameter of 300 nm, a surface area of 50 m2/g, and a crystal
distribution of 70% anatase and 30% rutile. The TiO2
loading was 1.2 mg/cm2, which was a slight excess to ensure
that catalytic surface was fully covered and the experi-
mental results were obtained under kinetic control regime.
The temperature was set to a common room temperature
level of 25C – 1C. The relative humidity (RH) varied
from 40% to 80%. The KANOMAX CLIMOMASTER
6531 tester was used to determine the values of RH and
temperature. The value of average UV intensity was as-
sumed to remain inalterable during the PCO reaction.
Key parameters for analyzing reactor performance
Fractional conversion g. The fractional conversion, g,
proportional to the degraded VOC, is the main parameter
influencing the PCO performance. g is expressed as follows
(the Chinese National Standard GB/T 18801-2015):
V
g¼ (be  bn ) (1)
G
Where V (m3) is the volume of test chamber; G (m3/h) is the
volumetric flow rate; and b (h-1) is decay rate constant. The
index ‘‘e’’ and ‘‘n’’ represent ‘‘total decay’’ and ‘‘natural
decay,’’ respectively.
The mass conservation equation together with initial
condition can be expressed as follows:
Table 2. Summary of Experimental Conditions
Used in Each Test

Table 1. Main Characteristics of Reactors Relative Flow UV

Temperature humidity rate Concentration lamp
Catalyst Case (C) (%) (m3/h) (ppm) (nm, W)
Volume Catalytic loading
(cm3) area (cm2) Lamps (mg/cm2) A 25 40 5 1.5 254, 20
B 25 40 5 3 254, 20
Plate reactor 1920 960 6 1.2 C 25 55 5 2 254, 20
Folded-plate 1920 1824 6 1.2 D 25 70 5 2 254, 20
reactor E 25 80 5 3 254, 20
 A METHODOLOGY FOR MODELING PHOTOCATALYTIC REACTOR 1477


Ct ¼ C0 e bt (2) TK 4
Eb, i ¼ 5:67 (5)
100
Where C0 (ppm) is the initial contaminate concentration in
test chamber. Ct (ppm) is the concentration at time t (h). Where TK (K) is the thermodynamic temperature of catalytic
Equation (2) can be used to obtain decay rate constant b by surface.
applying the linear regression on the lnCti and ti from the Ji is evaluated from the following expression (Mo et al.,
following expression: 2008):
n  ! !
P 1 X n Xn X
N
ti lnCti  ti lnCti Ji ¼ ek, i Eb, i þ (1  ek, i ) Jj Fij (6)
1 n 1 1 j¼1
b¼ n  !2 (3)
P 2 1 X n
ti  ti Where ek,iEb,i represents the emission radiation of surface
1 n 1 i and N is the total number of all the differential surfaces,
including the window and the catalytic surfaces. Fij is the
The UV radiation intensity Isurface. The radiation inter- view factor between surface i and j, defined as follows:
change is modeled involving a triangular prism with one
cos ai cos aj
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window and two catalytic surfaces (Fig. 3). To simplify the
radiation transport analysis, the assumptions are as follows
(Zhong and Haghighat, 2011): (1) the window is considered an
emitting transparent surface, which lets in uniform radiation
coming from UV lamp; (2) the triangular channels of the re-
actor are identically irradiated by UV lamps, which emit pri-
marily at the wavelength of 254 nm. (3) Irradiance emitted
from UV lamp is constant, and the effect of ozone produced by
UV light is not taken into account. (4) The gas-phase absorp-
tion, reflection, and scattering of UV light are negligible; (5)
the catalytic surface is opaque, uniform, and diffused, only can
absorb radiation. Therefore, ak+qk = 1 and ek = ak. Where a, q,
and e represent the absorptance, reflectance, and emissivity,
respectively. Also, the index ‘‘k’’ represents wavelength.
Considering the channel symmetry, only one catalytic
surface is taken into consideration. The UV radiation inten-
sity on the reaction surface Isurface (W/m2) can be calculated
by using absorbed radiation flux q (W) that reaches the area of
catalytic surface A (m2). For surface i (Mo et al., 2008),
qi ek, i (Ji  Eb, i )
Isurfacei ¼ ¼ (4)
Ai 1  ek, i
Where Ji (W/m2) is the total emission UV flux; Eb,i (W/m2) is
the blackbody radiation; and ek,i is the emissivity.
For the opaque, uniform, and diffuse surface, ek,i is pre-
dicted to be in the range from 0.85 to 0.95. Eb,i can be ob-
tained by the Stefan-Boltzmann low as follows:
Fij ¼ Aj (7)
pl2
Where l (m) represents the distance between surfaces i and j;
and ai and aj are the intersection angles. The geometric rela-
tionship of ai and aj in the triangular prism is shown in Fig. 3.
The Equation (6) should be solved to calculate J; then, the
UV radiation intensity on the catalytic surface Isurface can be
obtained. In CFD simulation, Isurface will be imported into
Fluent 6.3 as part of the boundary conditions.
Adsorption equilibrium constant K and reaction rate con-
stant k. Assuming that the PCO reaction takes place at con-
stant temperature and under kinetic control regime, and the
effect of by-products and the adsorption of water are negligible,
the reaction rate r (mol/[m2$s]) can be evaluated from the un-
imolecular L-H model, expressed as (Hu et al., 2018) follows:
KC
r¼k (8)
1 þ KC
Where C (ppm) is the average concentration adjacent to the
reaction surface; K (ppm-1) is adsorption equilibrium con-
stant; and k (mol/[m2$s]) is the reaction rate constant for a
given UV radiation intensity.
Equation (8) can be rewritten as follows to fit the experi-
mental data:
1 1 1 1
¼ þ (9)
r kK C k
K and k are calculated from the slope and intercept of the
line fit to the experimental data plotted as 1/r versus 1/C using
least-squares methods.
In addition, k is UV light-intensity dependent. Hossain
et al. (1999) presented a modification formula. For that,
 
Isurface n
k ¼ k0
I0
(n ¼ 1, when : Isurface < Sk ; n ¼ 0:5, when : Isurface > Sk )
(10)

Where I0 is the original radiation intensity from UV lamp for

which the reaction rate constant k0 has been evaluated. Sk is
FIG. 3. Radiation interchange in the triangular channel. the one sun equivalent under the k wavelength.
 1478 LIU ET AL.

For k = 254 nm, Sk is equal to 1 mW/cm2 (Obee and Brown, vq

1995). þ div(qu) ¼ 0 (17)
vt
Numerical model
Assuming the gas-phase concentrations over the catalytic Boundary conditions. A velocity magnitude and the
surface are uniform throughout the system, the mass balance HCHO concentrations are set as boundary conditions. At
equation for HCHO in the text chamber will be written as the inlet, Equations (15)–(17) are subjected to the bound-
follows: ary conditions:

dC dg ux ¼ uy ¼ 0, uz ¼ constant, C ¼ constant (18)

mr ¼ V þ (11)
dt dt
At the reactor surfaces,
Where m is the mass of photocatalyst and g is the amount of
HCHO adsorbed per unit weight of the photocatalyst. ux ¼ uy ¼ uz ¼ 0 (19)
Based on the Langmuir model for monolayer adsorption,
g can be evaluated from the following expression (Mo et al., Heterogeneous reaction in the system also appears as
2009): boundary conditions. For reaction surface, the HCHO
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diffusion flux equals to the heterogeneous reaction rate R

g KC (Obee, 1996):
¼ (12)
g0 1 þ KC
vC 
D surface ¼ R (20)
Where g0 is the maximum amount adsorbed per unit weight. vn
Substituting Equations. (8), (10), and (12) into Equation
(11) gives the following equation: For nonreaction surface,
    vC
k0 mKC Isurface n dC d KCg0 ¼0 (21)
¼V þ (13) vn
1 þ KC I0 dt dt 1 þ KC
In addition, the equation of radiation balance (Isurface) is
The solution of Equation (13) is as follows:
evaluated and introduced as part of the boundary condition.
  The resolution of the complete set of governing equations is
Isurface n achieved in Fluent 6.3 (Fluent, Inc.). Using Fluent, the ve-
k0 mKt ¼ VK(Ct  C0 )
I0 locity and radiation distributions subject to the imposed
Ct 1 þ KCt boundary conditions can be achieved. Gambit 2.3 is applied
þ (V  Kg0 )ln þ Kg0 ln to develop a simplified geometric model of the PCO reactor,
C0 1 þ KC0
(14) which is conducted under the hypothesis that the fluid is
incompressible and the influent and effluent tubing is not in
Ct can be calculated and predicted by solving Equation computation. The three-dimension domain is meshed with
(14) with the Isurface, I0, k0, and K as the boundary conditions hexahedral volume cells aligned with the main direction of
on the reaction surface. Following that, the modeling value of the triangular channel. Considering the relatively high range
g can be derived by solving Equations (1)–(3). of the Reynolds numbers, the standard k–e turbulence model
is applied.
CFD simulation
Conservation equations. The CFD simulation of the fluid Results and Discussion
flowing through the reactor involves the solution of the Comparison of model and experimental results
Navier–Stokes equations, which is described by the equation
of momentum for the horizontal system: Table 3 listed the regression parameters and showed a
comparison of experimental data with model results for two
v(qu) different configuration reactors under a typical run. The g of
þ div(quu) ¼  div(p)  div(s) (15)
vt
Where q is the fluid density, u the velocity, t the time, p the Table 3. The HCHO Removal Performances
of Two Different Configuration Reactors:
pressure, and s the viscous stress tensor. ‘‘div’’ represents the Plate and Folded Plate
divergence, v/vx+ v/vy+ v/vz.
The mass conservation equation is given as follows: PCO k · 10-6 K Measured Predicted
reactor (mol/[m2$s]) (ppm-1) g (%) g (%)
udivC ¼ Ddiv2 u (16)
Plate 1.8932 0.0786 8.7 9.5
Folded-plate 7.5019 0.0225 12.2 13.1
Where D is the diffusion coefficient of HCHO in air. The
continuity equation, used to describe the mass conservation, inlet concentration: 1.5 ppm; RH: 40%; inlet flow rate: 5.0 m3/h.
is as follows: RH, relative humidity.
 A METHODOLOGY FOR MODELING PHOTOCATALYTIC REACTOR
plate reactor was not satisfactory because of the smaller re-
action area (Table 1) and shorter residence time; it was
possible to get large convective mass transfer rate, but the
transfer rate did not match the reaction rate. The two reactors
had the same effective volume, but due to the axial symmetry
configuration, the reaction area of folded-plate reactor was
almost doubled, the residence time was significantly in-
creased, and radiation interchange could be found on the
catalytic surface. Consequently, the geometry design made
the g of folded-plate reactor increase almost 40% relative to
the plate reactor, which was generally satisfactory. In addi-
tion, Table 3 depicted that the relative difference between the
experimental data and model results was not obvious, which
meant that this model was capable for predicting the exper-
imental results with a high level of confidence.
The experiments were made for five operating conditions
with different inlet concentrations and RH (Table 2). The
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overall conversions from the model were contrasted to the
experimental results. The comparison was depicted in Fig. 4.
From Fig. 4a, it could be seen that agreements were found
between model and experimental results. The model and
experimental results had a difference of 5.2%–11.4% and the
FIG. 4. Model and experimental data for HCHO: (a) g
values of folded-plate reactor under five operation condi-
tions. Inlet flow rate: 5.0 m3/h. (b) Concentration decay
curve. Inlet concentration: 1.5 ppm; RH: 40%; inlet flow
rate: 5.0 m3/h. RH, relative humidity.
1479
model data were comparatively higher; this meant that the
model results were not fairly good, but the model was already
helpful enough for various PCO reactor design, optimization,
and control.
Figure 4b showed a comparison of the removal perfor-
mance between plate and folded-plate reactor, it was obvious
that the folded-plate reactor was better. The PCO reactors
were operated for about 20 min without turning on the UV
lamp to stabilize and measure the initial concentration of
HCHO. The curves decreased a little within the first 20 min
because of the adsorption steps before degradation, which
played an important role in the PCO process. With turning on
the UV lamp, the HCHO itself was oxidized quickly in the
initial stage; then, the degradation rate gradually dropped
down until the concentration became stable again. This was
mainly because the active sites on reaction surface were
gradually blocked by the reactants and intermediates (Mah-
mood et al., 2019). We also noted that the model data cor-
related well with the experimental results based on the
corresponding point matching, even though the model results
were comparatively lower. The differences between model
and experimental results found herein might be explained as
the generation of intermediates, adsorbed onto the catalyst
and blocking the active sites, was ignored with the Langmuir-
Hinshelwood rate equations.
Furthermore, Fig. 4a also showed that whatever the initial
HCHO concentration increased to, the relative high values of
g were obtained always at low RH values. The water vapor
level played an extremely important role in photocatalytic
degradation. Under UV illumination, the water molecules
adsorbed on the photocatalyst would lead to the generation of
OH$, which was the dominant strong oxidant for gas-phase
contaminant decomposition (Lee et al., 2016). The influence
of water molecules on PCO reactions followed the adsorption
competition relationship, the excessive water molecules
competed with HCHO for adsorption sites and hastened the
HCHO release from the reaction surface; thus, PCO reaction
rate would be seriously retarded (Mo et al., 2013). Further-
more, the presence of water molecules would accelerate the
recombination of electron-hole pairs, thus reducing the re-
moval rate (Qi et al., 2017). In our study, the competitive
FIG. 5. Radiation intensity distribution on the catalytic
surface.
 1480
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FIG. 6. Predicted velocity field (m/s) for a typical run.
(a) Vertical section, (b) Cross-section, and (c) Horizontal
direction. Inlet concentration: 1.5 ppm; RH: 40%; inlet flow
rate: 5.0 m3/h.
adsorption was significant; therefore, lower water vapor
concentration resulted in higher decomposition.
CFD-predicted results
Radiation field. Figure 5 depicted the predicted radiation
distribution over one catalyst plate of the triangular channel
for the folded-plate reactor. The UV radiation intensity was
increasing uniformly with distance into the channel, except
for the ends. The position of the UV lamp relative to the
catalytic surface (Fig. 2b for geometry details) affected ra-
diation intensity and the closer the lamp to the surface, the
stronger radiation field that was formed. Therefore, radiation
intensity over the upper half of the catalyst plate was rela-
tively stronger.
Velocity field. The behavior of the air flow was simulated
before the photocatalytic decomposition. Figure 6 illustrated
the predicted velocity field for the folded-plate reactor under
a typical operating condition. As shown in Fig. 6a, the air
flow distribution in horizontal direction was comparatively
uniform in general and it was actually higher near the elbows
due to the narrow widths there. Figure 6b and c illustrated
the velocity field in the cross-section and vertical section.
Because the presence of catalytic plates introduced a non-
negligible flow resistance, the closer the air flow to the bot-
tom of triangular channel, the less uniform the velocity field
was; most of the air flow passed through the triangular
channel from the upper portion. This could result in low mass
transfer rate at the bottom of triangular channel even if the
reaction rate was high there and it could influence the com-
pleted adsorption and oxidation processes, causing insuffi-
cient utilization of the photocatalyst.
Conclusion
A simple numerical model was developed for analyzing
HCHO removal performance of the PCO reactors, taking into
consideration radiation intensity and L–H reaction kinetics.
LIU ET AL.
The photocatalytic degradation of HCHO had been mea-
sured, modeled, and contrasted in two different configuration
reactors. Results showed that the overall conversions from
numerical model, based on the computation of view factors,
reaction rate constant, and the adsorption equilibrium con-
stant, were validated with experimental results under five
operating conditions. In this process, the folded-plate reactor
was more efficient because of the symmetrical channels en-
larging the reaction area, increasing the residence time and
enhancing the radiation interchange. High degradation ef-
ficiency was obtained at relatively low RH. CFD simulation
methods allowed the resolution of radiation and velocity
fields in a complex geometry reactor. The simulation results
depicted that the radiation intensity was uniformly in-
creasing with distance into the channel, the velocity distri-
bution was uniform in general, and most of the air passed
through the channel from the upper portion. Consequently,
the simple numerical model was successfully applied for
PCO reactors; the CFD simulations could address a better
reactor design and allow a better understanding of photo-
catalytic processes.
Author Disclosure Statement
No competing financial interests exist.
Funding Information
The Science and Technology Planning Projects of Guizhou
(Grant No. QKHLHZ[2017]7242); The Academic Training
& Exploration Project of Guizhou University (Grant No.
QKHPTRC[2017]5788); and The Scientific Research Foun-
dation of Talent Introduction of Guizhou University (Grant
No. GDRJHZ[2015]22).
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