Studies were undertaken to evaluate gaseous pollutants in workplace air within pulp and paper mills and to consider the effectiveness of photo-catalytic treatment of this air. Ambient air at 30 sampling sites in five pulp and paper mills of southern China were sampled and analyzed. The results revealed that formaldehyde and various benzene-based molecules were the main gaseous pollutants at these five mills. A photo-catalytic reactor system with titanium dioxide (TiO2) was developed and evaluated for degradation of formaldehyde, benzene and their mixtures. The experimental results demonstrated that both formaldehyde and benzene in their pure forms could be completely photo-catalytic degraded, though the degradation of benzene was much more difficult than that for formaldehyde. Study of the photo-catalytic degradation kinetics revealed that the degradation rate of formaldehyde increased with initial concentration fitting a first-order kinetics reaction. In contrast, the degradation rate of benzene had no relationship with initial concentration and degradation did not conform to first-order kinetics. The photo-catalytic degradation of formaldehyde-benzene mixtures indicated that formaldehyde behaved differently than when treated in its pure form. The degradation time was two times longer and the kinetics did not reflect a first-order reaction. The degradation of benzene was similar in both pure form and when mixed with formaldehyde.
