title: A study of enhanced performance of VUV/UV process for the degradation of micropollutants from contaminated water.
abstract: VUV/UV is a chemical-free and straightforward solution for the degradation of emerging contaminants from water sources. The objective of this work was to investigate the feasibility of VUV/UV advanced oxidation process for the effective degradation of a target micropollutant, atrazine, under continuous flow operation of 0.5-6.5L/min. To provide an in-depth understanding of process, a comprehensive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model, incorporating flow hydrodynamics, 185nm VUV and 254nm UV radiation propagation along with a complete kinetic scheme, was developed and validated experimentally. The experimental degradation rates and CFD predicted values showed great consistency with less than 2.9% average absolute relative deviation (AARD). Utilizing the verified model, energy-efficiency of the VUV/UV process under a wide range of reactor configurations was assessed in terms of electrical energy-per-order (EEO), OH concentration as well as delivered UV and VUV dose distributions. Thereby, the extent of mixing and circulation zones was found as key parameter controlling the treatment economy and energy-efficiency of the VUV/UV process. Utilizing a CFD-driven baffle design strategy, an improved VUV/UV process with up to 72% reduction in the total electrical energy requirement of atrazine degradation was introduced and verified experimentally.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The University of British Columbia, 2360 East Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada.
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bagheri
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The University of British Columbia, 2360 East Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada. Electronic address: madjid.mohseni@ubc.ca.
authors.forename: Madjid
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mohseni
mesh_terms: D001280:Atrazine / Q000528:radiation effects*; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D057446:Hydrodynamics; D017665:Hydroxyl Radical / Q000737:chemistry; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000528:radiation effects*; D014876:Water Pollution
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D017665:Hydroxyl Radical; D001280:Atrazine
keywords: Computational fluid dynamics (CFD); Contaminants of emerging concerns (CECs); Design exploration; Improved VUV/UV process; Micropollutants