Effect of operating parameters on the testing of new industrial titania catalysts at solar pilot plant scale

A new granulated version of the well-known P-25 titanium dioxide (VP AEROPERL(R) P-25/20 (Aeroperl)) has been tested to determine whether its photocatalytic efficiency is good enough for use in photocatalytic water purification and to find out if it can be separated from water more easily than its well-known homologue, powdered Degussa P-25, a significant technical improvement that might eliminate the tedious final filtration necessary with a slurry. Furthermore, a new commercial catalyst (PC-100 from Millennium Inorganic Chemicals), having a surface area and structure that are both different from Degussa P-25, has also been studied. All the experiments were carried out in sunlight in the pilot compound parabolic collector (CPC) plant at the Plataforma Solar de Almeria. Three different substrates were chosen as model molecules for this study: dichloracetic acid, phenol and the pesticide imidacloprid. Results show that Degussa Aeroperl is not a good alternative to powdered Degussa P-25 because of its spontaneous sedimentation during photocatalysis. Millennium PC-100 efficiency seems to be in the same range as that of Degussa P-25. In this work we also attempt to demonstrate that the comparison of efficiencies of different photocatalysts is not a trivial matter. Many factors are involved and interfere in the testing of photocatalyst behaviour during the degradation of a contaminant. A thorough comparison of photocatalyst activity should include reactions with several different substrates under varied experimental conditions. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.