Photodegradation of Toluene, m-Xylene, and n-Butyl Acetate and Their Mixtures over TiO2 Catalyst on Glass Fibers

The abatement of typical paint solvent compounds as individuals and in mixtures was carried out in an annular TiO2 supported reactor, for concentrations up to 900 mg C m(-3). Two different fiberglass supports were compared, and the catalyst supported over a fiber mat showed better performance, with a lower pressure drop (>35% of reduction) and a slightly higher removal efficiency (about 2%) than that supported over glass wool. For every target compound in the whole range of relative humidity studied (4-75%), the photocatalytic activity increased with the air water content. The removal of the compounds in the binary and ternary mixtures was depressed, even >90% for toluene, compared with individual tests. Xylene was the main compound responsible for the inhibition effects in the mixtures, followed by toluene and butyl acetate. Photodegradation of individual compound data was well fitted by both simple and bimolecular Langmuir-Hinselwood (LH) kinetic models.