Heterogeneous photocatalytic oxidation of acetone for airpurification by near UV-irradiated titanium dioxide.

This work presents a photocatalysis-based method to treat and purify air because of its broad applicability to common, oxidizable air contaminants. The effect of oxygen content, temperature, water vapor, and acetone concentration on the photooxidation of acetone on TiO2 surface was investigated. The photocatalytic decomposition reaction of acetone obeyed the first-order equation. The decomposition rate increased with increasing the oxygen content. The rate of acetone oxidation increased when water vapor increased from 18.7 to 417 microM and decreased at higher than 417 microM. The conversion and mineralization of acetone decreased at higher than 138 degrees C. The initial rate of acetone degradation can be well described by the Langmuir-Hinshelwood rate form. The specific reaction rate constant and the equilibrium adsorption are 15.8 microM/min and 0.0671 L/microM, respectively. The difference between observed and estimated half-lives became larger when the initial concentration of acetone was increased. It is assumed that the intermediates competed with parent compound so that delayed the half-life. The detection of CO2 production can support this assumption.