Development of a novel photocatalytic reaction system for oxidative decomposition of volatile organic compounds in water with enhanced aeration

A novel photocatalytic reaction system, composed of solution and gas spaces that are divided by a thin Teflon film and titanium(IV) oxide (TiO2)-coated mesh or cloth, for the treatment of contaminated aqueous solutions was developed to be operated with enhanced aeration without bubbling of air in the solution. First, the photocatalytic activities of TiO2 particles immobilized on two kinds of support material, stainless steel mesh (SSM) and fiberglass cloth (FGC), were investigated for photocatalytic oxidation of 2-propanol, as a model volatile organic compound, dissolved in aerated aqueous solution. The TiO2 particles immobilized on both support materials exhibited photocatalytic activity to oxidize 2-propanol into acetone and carbon dioxide (CO2), and the activity levels of the TiO2 particles immobilized on the two kinds of support materials were comparable. Presumably due to the presence of a small amount of metal species originating in SSM that might work as reduction catalysts, molecular hydrogen (H2) was also liberated on the TiO2-immobilized SSM. Results of analysis of weight loss after photoirradiation suggested that the stability of the TiO2-immobilized FGC was better than that of the TiO2-immobilized SSM. On the basis of these results, FGC was employed in construction of a photocatalytic reactor equipped with an oxygen (O2)-permeable Teflon membrane in order to make oxygen pass from a gas space to a solution space and to keep the surface of the immobilized TiO2 photocatalyst, facing an aqueous solution containing volatile organic compounds, saturated with dissolved O2. From the results of photocatalytic oxidative decomposition of 2-propanol, it was clarified that the surfaces of TiO2 particles could be sufficiently supplied with O2 from the gas space through the membrane to accelerate the oxidation.