An improved model for analyzing the performance of photocatalytic oxidation reactors in removing volatile organic compounds and its application

An improved photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) reactor model was developed to analyze the removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in indoor air. One new parameter, the average total removing factor Kt, together with the other two parameters, the number of mass transfer units NTUm and the fractional conversion epsilon, are found to be the main parameters influencing the photooxidation performance of PCO reactors. Three new parameters, the ideal reaction number of mass transfer units, NTUm,ir; the ideal reaction fractional conversion, epsilonir; and the reaction effectiveness, eta, also are defined. These concepts are helpful to the structural design and optimization for PCO reactors. The application of the model in designing a plate-type PCO reactor is demonstrated. This study shows that the present model is an effective tool for designing PCO reactors and for evaluating VOC removal performance of available PCO reactors.