Continuous toluene vapour photocatalytic deduction in a multi-stage fluidised bed

Continuous deduction of 1000 ppm toluene vapour in a multi-stage gas fluidised bed photoreactor was studied using TiO2 coated activated carbon (AC/TiO2) particles as the fluidising media. Due to the enrichment of the local toluene concentration, the efficiency of the toluene removal from the gas stream by the mass transfer-limited photocatalytic reaction was significantly improved using AC/TiO2 particles as the fluidising media. In the stage addition studies, the results showed that the toluene removal efficiency at steady state increased approximate 3–4% for every stage addition. The three-stage design effectively utilised the freeboard region and improved the toluene removal efficiency for approximately 37% when comparing to the single-stage system. Using SiO2 powders as fluidising media could enhance the light utilisation by light scattering and promotes the toluene deduction during the initial to steady toluene deduction period.