Experimental Investigation of Photocatalytic Efficiency of TiO2 in Reducing Urban Air Pollution
摘要
Photo-catalysis is widely used for the treatment of air pollution caused by the emission of pollutants and harmful gases like volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from indoor and outdoor sources. Some VOCs are carcinogenic and degrades very slowly in the atmosphere. A major part of our time we spent indoors inside some infrastructure whether it is a residence or workplace, where we are exposed to those pollutants frequently. This paper investigates the photocatalytic efficiency of TiO2 in reducing such air pollutants when applied over the building surface. To accomplish the goal, cement mortar samples are prepared with various doses of TiO2 (ranging from 6.18E−03 to 41.2E−03 g/cm2) and investigated further for the rate of degradation of VOCs inside batch reactors in the presence and absence of sunlight. The obtained results showed the variation of degradation rate from 0.9E−04 to 1.7E−4 min−1 cm−2 for various initial concentrations of TVOC in the range of 600–2900 ppm over 600 min. The selected approach demonstrated the maximum degradation rate constant of 5.4E−04 min−1 cm−2 corresponding to 15% of TiO2 dose by cement weight. This shows the viability of TiO2 in the purification of polluted air and advocates its widespread use on building surfaces.