TY - JOUR
T1 - UV-PCO device for indoor VOCs removal
T2 - Investigation on multiple compounds effect
AU - Chen, Wenhao
AU - Zhang, Jianshun S.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are grateful for the financial support from New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), Niagara Mohawk, Xerox Corporation and Syracuse Center of Excellence in Energy and Environmental Systems.
PY - 2008/3
Y1 - 2008/3
N2 - Current design models for ultraviolet photocatalytic oxidation (UV-PCO) devices often assume that the air contains only one volatile organic compound (VOC) species or all the VOCs in the air can be treated on a non-interacting basis. However, trace-level multiple VOCs co-exist in most indoor environments. This paper assesses the significance of interference effects among different VOCs for indoor applications by full-scale "pull-down" experiments assisted with model simulations. Multiple versus single VOC tests were performed on selected groups of compounds under low concentration levels. Removal efficiency for each compound was calculated. It was found that the interference effect among test VOCs were generally small in the 2-VOC and 3-VOC mixture tests performed on toluene, ethylbenzene, octane, decane and dodecane with initial concentration of approximate 1 mg/m3 for each compound. However, in the 16 VOC mixture test, the interference effect among different VOCs became quite obvious, and compounds with lower removal efficiency in the single compound test appeared to also have relatively lower efficiency and more obvious delay period in the initial reaction. The L-H model appears to be able to account for this effect if reaction rate constants can be accurately estimated. Results, although limited, indicate that interference between multiple VOCs may not be neglected for the PCO reactor for indoor applications where the number of VOCs species is large and the TVOC concentration is high.
AB - Current design models for ultraviolet photocatalytic oxidation (UV-PCO) devices often assume that the air contains only one volatile organic compound (VOC) species or all the VOCs in the air can be treated on a non-interacting basis. However, trace-level multiple VOCs co-exist in most indoor environments. This paper assesses the significance of interference effects among different VOCs for indoor applications by full-scale "pull-down" experiments assisted with model simulations. Multiple versus single VOC tests were performed on selected groups of compounds under low concentration levels. Removal efficiency for each compound was calculated. It was found that the interference effect among test VOCs were generally small in the 2-VOC and 3-VOC mixture tests performed on toluene, ethylbenzene, octane, decane and dodecane with initial concentration of approximate 1 mg/m3 for each compound. However, in the 16 VOC mixture test, the interference effect among different VOCs became quite obvious, and compounds with lower removal efficiency in the single compound test appeared to also have relatively lower efficiency and more obvious delay period in the initial reaction. The L-H model appears to be able to account for this effect if reaction rate constants can be accurately estimated. Results, although limited, indicate that interference between multiple VOCs may not be neglected for the PCO reactor for indoor applications where the number of VOCs species is large and the TVOC concentration is high.
KW - Multiple components system
KW - Photocatalytic oxidation
KW - Volatile organic compounds
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U2 - 10.1016/j.buildenv.2006.03.024
DO - 10.1016/j.buildenv.2006.03.024
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:35548983519
SN - 0360-1323
VL - 43
SP - 246
EP - 252
JO - Building and Environment
JF - Building and Environment
IS - 3
ER -