Photocatalytic oxidation of low-level airborne 2-propanol and trichloroethylene over titania irradiated with bulb-type light-emitting diodes

Abstract

This study examined the photocatalytic oxidation of gas-phase trichloroethylene (TCE) and 2-propanol, at indoor levels, over titanium dioxide (TiO2) irradiated with light-emitting diodes (LED) under different operational conditions. TiO2 powder baked at 450 °C exhibited the highest photocatalytic decomposition efficiency (PDE) for TCE, while all photocatalysts baked at different temperatures showed similar PDEs for 2-propanol. The average PDEs of TCE over a three hour period were four, four, five, and 51% for TiO2 powders baked at 150, 250, 350, and 450 °C, respectively. The average PDEs of 2-propanol were 95, 97, 98, and 96% for TiO2 powders baked at 150, 250, 350, and 450 °C, respectively. The ratio of anatase at 2Θ = 25.2° to rutile at 2Θ = 27.4° was lowest for the TiO2 powder baked at 450 °C. Although the LED-irradiated TiO2 system revealed lower PDEs of TCE and 2-propanol when compared to those of the eight watt, black-light lamp-irradiated TiO2 system, the results for the PDEs normalized to the energy consumption were reversed. Other operational parameters, such as relative humidity, input concentrations, flow rate, and feeding type were also found to influence the photocatalytic performance of the UV LED-irradiated TiO2 system when applied to the cleaning of TCE and 2-propanol at indoor air levels. © 2013 by the authors.