Performance of ultraviolet photocatalytic oxidation for indoor air applications: Systematic experimental evaluation

Highlights: • An innovative experimental set-up was designed and constructed for testing UV-PCO. • Test methodologies were developed to examine UV-PCO air cleaners for VOCs removal. • VOCs type, inlet concentration, flow rate, irradiance, and RH have influence on PCO. • Gas-phase ozonation with a variety of compounds was examined in a duct system. • Formation of by-products generated from incomplete conversion was investigated. -- Abstract: Photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) is a promising technology that has potential to be applied in mechanically ventilated buildings to improve indoor air quality (IAQ). However, the major research studies were done in bench-top scale reactors under ideal reaction conditions. In addition, no study has been carried out on the investigation of the ozonation and photolysis effect using a pilot duct system. The objective of this study is the development of methodologies to evaluate the performance of PCO systems. A systematic parametric evaluation of the effects of various kinetic parameters, such as compound's type, inlet concentration, airflow rate, light intensity, and relative humidity, was conducted, and new interpretations were provided from a fundamental analysis. In addition, the photolysis effect under vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) irradiation for a variety of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) was examined for the first time in a pilot duct system. The performance comparison of ultraviolet C (UVC)-PCO and VUV-PCO was also discussed due to the presence of ozone. Moreover, the formation of by-products generated with or without ozone generation was fully compared to evaluate the PCO technology