Water purification in a solar reactor incorporating TiO₂ coated mesh structures

The rate of photocatalytic oxidation of contaminants in drinking water using an immobilized catalyst can be increased by properly designing the catalyst structure. By creating a solar reactor in which meshes coated with TiO₂ were stacked, we demonstrated that degradation of humic acids with four superimposed stainless steel meshes was up to 3.4 times faster than in a single plate flat-bed reactor. Incorporation of TiO₂ coated mesh structures resulted in a high specific photocatalytically active surface area with sufficient light penetration in the reactor, while the coated area for one mesh was 0.77 m² per m² projected area. This brought the photocatalytic efficiency of such reactors closer to that of dispersed-phase reactors, but without the complex separation of the very fine TiO₂ particles from the treated water.