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Photocatalytic reactors for environmental remediation: a review
Author(s) -
McCullagh Cathy,
Skillen Nathan,
Adams Morgan,
Robertson Peter K.J.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of chemical technology and biotechnology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.64
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1097-4660
pISSN - 0268-2575
DOI - 10.1002/jctb.2650
Subject(s) - photocatalysis , environmental remediation , environmental science , waste management , effluent , pollutant , water treatment , human decontamination , environmental engineering , materials science , chemistry , contamination , catalysis , engineering , ecology , biochemistry , organic chemistry , biology
Research in the field of photocatalytic reactors in the past three decades has been an area of extensive and diverse activity with an extensive range of suspended and fixed film photocatalyst configurations being reported. The key considerations for photocatalytic reactors, however, remain the same; effective mass transfer of pollutants to the photocatalyst surface and effective deployments and illumination of the photocatalyst. Photocatalytic reactors have the potential versatility to be applied to the remediation of a range of water and gaseous effluents. Furthermore they have also been applied to the treatment of potable waters. The scale‐up of photocatalytic reactors for waste and potable water treatment plants has also been demonstrated. Systems for the reduction of carbon dioxide to fuel products have also been reported. This paper considers the main photocatalytic reactor configurations that have been reported to date. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry