Abstract
The process intensification of photocatalytic p-anisaldehyde (p-MB) synthesis was examined by relying on a mini glass reactor and UV-LED lamp. TiO2 photocatalyst was highly loaded in ethyl acetate solvent and dispersed by a magnetic stirrer and oxygen bubbling in a glass cell reactor. The reactor was irradiated by the UV-LED lamp in the UV intensity range less than 224 mW/cm2 at the reactor surface. The generation rate of p-MB (GR) from p-methoxytoluene (p-MT) was evaluated by GCMS. The GRs per lamp power attained in this study were found to be much higher than those in the previous studies on the photocatalytic p-MB synthesis from p-MT or even from p-methoxy alcohol. The attained high reaction efficiency can be attributed to the high efficiency of the UV-LED and small size of the reactor that enabled better penetration of UV light through the entire volume of the reactor in spite of high catalyst loading.
