Artificially Illuminated Reactors

Several configurations have been proposed for artificially illuminated photocatalytic reactors. These can be grouped into two main categories, as described in Table 2.2, with respect to the state of the Ti02 catalyst as either immobilized or in suspension (slurry). 

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In the various studies, the different sensors were found to be significantly different with respect to sensitivity, linearity and signal to noise ratio. None of the sensors lost sensitivity completely due to surface growth on the optical window. The signals never correlated perfectly linearly with biomass concentration. Only little disturbance was observed from changing environmental illumination (artificial or sun light when used in glass reactors). 

A successful implementation of photocatalysis requires very efficient catalysts, illumination sources and reactors. In addition, auxiliary equipment for photocatalytic reactors is of major importance to assess the effectiveness of the reactor and of the kinetic reactor modeling. Uiis requires proper characterization of the near-UV lamps used, in the case of artificially powered photocatalytic reactors, and the characterization of the photons absorbed in the photocatalytic reactor unit. 

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