Modeling the photocatalytic oxidation of carboxylic acids on aqueous TiO₂ suspensions and on immobilized TiO₂-chitosan thin films in different reactor geometries irradiated by UVA or UVC light sources

Photocatalytic reactor models incorporating radiation transport parameters and intrinsic kinetic parameters of photocatalytic decomposition of single-compound and mixtures of oxalic (OA) and formic acid (FA), in both slurry suspensions and immobilized photocatalytic thin films, were validated in two well-mixed annular photoreactors geometries irradiated with either UVA or UVC radiation. The six-flux absorption scattering model (SFM) predicted the radiation field in a titanium dioxide (TiO₂ P25) catalyst suspension, the local volumetric rate of photon absorption (LVRPA) at each point of the reactor and, after volumetric integration, the lumped VRPA. The model combining the lumped VRPA, the kinetics models describing the adsorption and photocatalytic decomposition of OA and FA and the material balance of the reacting species was fitted to the experimental results of photocatalytic decomposition of OA and FO in a slurry TiO₂ suspension, to determine the OA and FA intrinsic reaction kinetics parameters. Such intrinsic parameters were then used with the average surface rate of photon absorption (SRPA) to model and predict the photocatalytic oxidation of OA and FA on non-porous TiO₂–chitosan films immobilized on glass plates immersed in the photoreactor. The models for both slurry suspensions and immobilized photocatalysts predicted the degradation and mineralization of OA and FA and of a mixture of them under diverse experimental conditions. This study demonstrates a systematic methodology for determining intrinsic reaction kinetics rate parameters of water contaminants that can also be used to represent the photocatalytic oxidation of such contaminants in irradiated slurries and in immobilized photocatalytic thin films and in any photoreactor geometry.