Photocatalytic oxidation of Rhodamine B in a three-phase internal circulating fluidized bed with TiO2/SiO2 as photocatalyst

A novel photoreactor of three-phase internal circulating fluidized bed was applied to the degradation of Rhodamine B with TiO2/SiO2 catalyst and TiO2 powder,respectively.The experimental results showed that the photocatalytic activity of TiO2/SiO2 catalyst was much higher than that of TiO2 powder under the same condition,and the half life of Rhodamine B using TiO2/SiO2 was 9.5 min,much lower than 63 min when using TiO2 powder.Moreover,TiO2/SiO2 had a good adsorption capacity of Rhodamine B,which played an important role on degradation.In addition,it was found that the degradation kinetics of Rodamine B with TiO2/SiO2 catalyst did not follow the first order reaction.The degradation kinetics model in terms of the adsorption process of catalyst and the analytic solution of reactant degradation rate in liquid phase could be deduced,which consisted of two parts.The first part was due to the adsorption,while the second part was due to the photocatalysis.In the beginning of the reaction,the adsorption process was dominant.However,when the adsorption achieved a balance,the degradation of Rhodamine B in liquid phase and solid phase was mainly caused by photocatalysis and the degradation kinetics model conformed to the first order reaction.