CFD Modeling of Fixed Photocatalytic Inserts for a Continuous Flow Reactor for Water Disinfection

The design of a suitable fixed photocatalytic support for water disinfection in a continuous flow reactor was researched. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to simulate the percentage of tracked particles coming into contact with the irradiated surface of different support geometries, cylindrical: conical and consecutive frusta and a spring. The number of particles striking each insert was presumed to give a good representation of the respective disinfection efficiencies of each design, as photocatalysis is effectively a surface phenomenon. It was found that a conical frustum design was more than three times as efficient as a similarly-sized conventional cylindrical insert with regard to this parameter, and arrangements of shorter frusta exhibited even more promising traits. A further regime of laboratory testing is proposed in order to determine the practical efficiency of the insert designs, which may have important applications in the solar disinfection of drinking water.