Photocatalytic oxidation of dilute PCE in air over titanium dioxide in a fiber-optic photoreactor

Photolytic and photocatalytic reactions of Perchloroethylene (PCE) in air were performed with TiO₂ coated fiber bundles in the presence of UV light. The radial refraction of light energy out of the fiber excites the TiO₂ film coated on the fiber cores. The experiments were performed for stripped lengths of 10 cm and 15 cm.; The photolytic oxidation of PCE was performed using UV light without TiO₂ at a PCE concentration of 130 ± 10 ppm and varying space times. The bare 10 cm stripped fiber bundle showed greater photolytic oxidation compared to the bare 15 cm stripped fiber bundles. The PCE photolytic oxidation reaction was found to follow the second-order reaction kinetic model.; The PCE photocatalytic oxidation reaction in air was performed using UV light with TiO₂ under the same conditions as for the photolytic oxidation. Experiments were performed to study the effect of different catalyst weight coatings on the 10 cm and 15 cm stripped fiber bundles. Results showed that for low catalyst loadings per surface area (0.1803 mg/cm2), the 10 cm stripped fibers showed better PCE conversion than did the 15 cm stripped fibers, whereas at increased catalyst loadings per surface area (0.6631 and 0.8633 mg/cm2), the 10 cm and the 15 cm stripped fibers showed equal PCE conversion. For the PCE photocatalytic oxidation, a new kinetic model combining the second order model and the Langmuir-Hinselwood model was proposed.