Photocatalytic oxidation of gaseous benzene under 185 nm UV irradiation

Abstract

Benzene is a toxic air pollutant and causes great harm to human being. Photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) has been frequently studied for benzene removal, however, its PCO efficiency is still very low and the photocatalysts are easy to be deactivated. To improve the efficiency and stability of PCO, UV lamps with partial 185 nm UV irradiation were used to activate photocatalysts (denoted as 185-PCO). Cobalt modified TiO2 (Co-TiO2) was developed to improve the PCO activity and eliminate ozone generated from 185 nm UV irradiation. Results show that benzene removal efficiency of PCO with 254 nm UV irradiation (denoted as 254-PCO) is only 2.1% while it was greatly increased to 51.5% in 185-PCO. 185-PCO exhibited superior capacity for benzene oxidation. In the 185-PCO process, much ozone was left in case of TiO2 as photocatalysts while it can be nearly eliminated by 1% Co-TiO2. © 2013 Haibao Huang et al.