Abstract
A one-dimensional, one-directional model is developed to calculate the lightfield in photocatalytic flat-plate reactors. This model accounts for light absorption, scattering, reflection and/or refraction by catalysts, pollutants and reactor walls, respectively. The Observed Photonic Efficiency (OPE) concept is introduced with OPE being the ratio of the rates of pollutant removal and incident photons. Experimental results obtained with flat-plate reactors operated in batch mode are compared with the modelpredictions. These experiments were performed employing dichloroacetate, phenol or 4-nitrophenol as model pollutants or with biologically pretreated industrial wastewater. Various parameters were varied during the experimental runs: catalyst and substrate concentration, reactor depth, and spectra of excitation light. The validity of the model is supported by an excellent agreement between predictions and experimental results. An extension of the model is proposed to explain deviations from the model predictions observed during part of the real wastewater studies.
