CFD and radiation field modeling of the NETmix milli-photocatalytic reactor: Evaluation of illumination systems composed of LEDs with distinct view angles

Abstract

The coupling of ray tracing and computational fluid dynamics simulations was explored for the NETmix milli-photoreactor. Three LEDs plates composed of 15 inline LEDs were simulated and the LEDs-to-reactor distance varied. The radiation field obtained through ray tracing was incorporated into CFD simulations to elucidate the impact of LEDs light distribution patterns on the reactor performance. The employed LEDs emitted the same amount of power with the same light spectrum in all cases. The evaluated LEDs present a 48∘, 63∘ and 120∘ view angle. The impact of the distinct radiation fields on the photocatalytic oxidation of the n-decane over a thin TiO2 catalyst film was elucidated. Power absorption efficiency, homogeneity index, global illumination efficiency and the pollutant conversion were evaluated for each of the proposed illumination systems. The registered irradiance values varied from 154 W m−2 to 331 W m−2 with homogeneity indexes between 28.4% and 73.1%. Simulations have shown the dependency of the photocatalytic process on the homogeneity of the radiation field and how LED source selection is an important step in the modeling of photoreactors. The characteristics of the LEDs lamps had a significant impact on the pollutant degradation results.