Photocatalytic degradation of volatile organic compounds at the gas-solid interface of a TiO2 photocatalyst

Sang Bum Kim, Hyun Tae Hwang, Sung Chang Hong

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

148 Scopus citations

Abstract

In the present work, photocatalytic degradation of volatile organic compounds including gas-phase trichloroethylene (TCE), acetone, methanol and toluene over illuminated TiO2 was closely examined in a batch photoreactor as a function of water vapor, molecular oxygen and reaction temperature. Water vapor enhanced the photocatalytic degradation rate of toluene, but was inhibitive for acetone, and, there was an optimum water vapor concentration in the TCE and methanol removal. In a nitrogen atmosphere, it showed lower photocatalytic degradation rate than in air and pure oxygen. Thus, it could be concluded that oxygen is an essential component in photocatalytic reactions by trapping photogenerated electrons on the semiconductor surface and by decreasing the recombination of electrons and holes. As for the influence of reaction temperature, it was found that photocatalytic degradation was more effective at a moderate temperature than at an elevated temperature for each compound.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)437-444
Number of pages8
JournalChemosphere
Volume48
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2002

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors thank the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology––National Center for Cleaner Production and MAGREEN INC. for support of this work.

Keywords

  • Batch photoreactor
  • Gas phase
  • Photocatalytic degradation
  • TiO film
  • Volatile organic compound

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Environmental Engineering
  • Environmental Chemistry
  • Chemistry (all)
  • Pollution
  • Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

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