Modeling of the photocatalytic degradation of methyl ethyl ketone in a fluidized bed reactor of nano-TiO2/γ-Al2O3 particles

Gas phase photocatalytic degradation of methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) using nano-TiO2 supported γ-Al2O3 adsorbent was studied in a Fluidized Bed Photo-Reactor (FBPR). The objective was to simulate photocatalytic degradation of MEK in the FBPR. The experiments were conducted in order to investigate the effect of operating parameters such as relative humidity (RH), MEK concentration, and superficial gas velocity on MEK degradation. In order to simulate the performance of the FBPR, the kinetic sub-model and the hydrodynamic sub-model were coupled together and solved simultaneously. The Langmuir-Hinshelwood (LH) kinetic model was adopted for photocatalytic degradation of MEK and its kinetic parameters were determined experimentally. The simple two-phase and dynamic two-phase models were considered as the hydrodynamic sub-models and their validity was investigated through comparing the simulation data and the experimental results. It was observed that the dynamic two-phase model has more validity than the simple two-phase; therefore, the dynamic two-phase model was selected as the hydrodynamic sub-model to predict the performance of the FBPR. The model predictions were compared with the experimental results of this study and the experimental data reported in the literature. Close agreement was found between the model and the experimental data. The modeling and simulation results of this study can be used to predict the performance of the fluidized bed photo-reactor.