Photocatalysis and radiation absorption in a solar plant

Recently, many papers have appeared in literature about photocatalytic detoxification. However, progress from laboratory data to the industrial solar reactor is not easy. Kinetic models for heterogeneous catalysis can be used to describe the photocatalytic processes, but luminic steps, related to the radiation, have to be added to the physical and chemical steps considered in heterogeneous catalysis. Thus, the evaluation of the radiation, and its distribution, inside a photocatalytic reactor is essential to extrapolate results from laboratory to outdoor experiments and to compare the efficiency of different installations. This study attempts to validate the experimental set up and theoretical data treatment for this purpose in a Solar Pilot Plant. The procedure consists of the calibration of different sunlight radiometers, the estimation of the radiation inside the reactor, and the validation of the results by actinometric experiments. Finally, a comparison between kinetic constants, for the same reaction in the laboratory (artificial light) and field conditions (sun light), is performed to demonstrate the advantages of knowing the radiation inside a large photochemical reactor.