Simulation of solar photocatalytic reactor with immobilized photocatalyst for degradation of pharmaceutical pollutants

Abstract

This study focuses on the simulation of a solar photocatalytic reactor with linear parabolic reflectors and continuous fluid flow. The simulation approach was initially validated against experimental data reported by Miranda-Garcia et al. Catal Today 151:107-113 (2010), yielding a high degree of accuracy of approximately 0.99%. In this article, the effect of light intensity, Reynolds number, and fluid residence time on the performance of a photoreactor system using titanium dioxide catalyst and ibuprofen pollutant has been investigated. The results show that the intensity of light intensity has an effect of up to 29% on the decomposition of pollutant. With the increase of radiation intensity, the removal of pollutants reached from 85.5% to 99.46%. It has been demonstrated that higher flow turbulence significantly impacts removal efficiency, achieving rates of up to 71%. Moreover, enhancing the fluid’s residence time through implementing a recirculating flow within the photoreactor has resulted in a 13% enhancement in removal efficiency. These results can be an important guide for optimizing the design of photocatalytic reactors. By adjusting the examined parameters, it is possible to obtain a higher efficiency in the removal of pollutants, which will be very effective in the scaling and industrial design of solar reactors.