Simulation of a photochemical reactor for benzene elimination from waste gas
Date
2012
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Abstract
A considerable amount of BTEX (Benzene, Toluene, Ethyl-benzene and Xylene) is being emitted by oil and gas industry. New techniques such as photolysis could help the industry achieve present and future emission standards. In this work the feasibility of photolysis technique for BTEX removal from waste gas has been investigated. A simulation model has been developed for benzene photolysis in waste gas which includes a light field model, a chemical model, a flow pattern model and a mass transfer model. At air flow rates of 1.5 L/min and benzene concentrations ranging from I to IO g/m3 a likely concentration range for an industrial photolysis process, the model predicts a degradation rate of about 1.9-2 mg/min, in a 0.5 L reactor with a 40-watt UV lamp emitting 8% of its power consumption of 185 nm and 30% at 254 nm which amounts to about l kg benzene per year. This is slightly above the experimental results (1-1.5 mg/min) obtained in earlier work (M. Rezaei, internal report, U ofC, 2010).
The model predicts that premixing ozone will increase the efficiency of the process dramatically. Simulations also show that condensation is a promising pre-treatment technique for this process. Based on energy requirement calculations, it is concluded that the combination of condensation, ozone pre-mixing and UV photolysis is economically feasible.
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Bibliography: p. 97-104
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Citation
Mahmoudkhani, F. (2012). Simulation of a photochemical reactor for benzene elimination from waste gas (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/4831