A step forward on NETmix reactor for heterogeneous photocatalysis: Kinetic modeling of As(III) oxidation

Abstract

This study focuses on the kinetic modeling of As(III) oxidation by heterogeneous TiO2 photocatalysis, assisted by ultraviolet light emitting diodes, using a static mixer ? NETmix reactor ? in two different configurations: back-side illumination and front-side illumination. First, preliminary experimental assays were performed varying the load of TiO2-P25 and the incident radiation flux for each configuration, and the observed pseudo-first-order kinetic constants were obtained. A model was built based on a mechanistic reaction pathway for As(III) oxidation, taking into account the radiation absorption by the catalytic surface. Three kinetic parameters were estimated considering the solution of the material balance for the existing chemical species and the evaluation of the radiation field inside the reactor by solving the Radiative Transfer Equation. The incident radiation flux was determined at every point on the catalyst surface. It was concluded that the initial reaction rate per unit area is similar in both reactor configurations. However, when compared per unit volume, front-side illumination exhibits twice the reaction rate as the back-side illumination. Moreover, according to the obtained parameters, the front-side configuration showed higher As(V) adsorptivity when compared to the back-side. In addition, the dependence of the reaction rate upon the incident radiation level proved to be the same regardless of the illumination mechanism. Nevertheless, considering that the radiation field is not uniform, the complete expression of the dependence with the local incident radiation flux in the reaction rate equations must be used. The results obtained with the model predictions were contrasted with the experimental data regarding As(III) concentrations and showed a good agreement for both reactor configurations.