Reaction engineering of heterogeneous photocatalytic reactors

A brief description of different heterogeneous reactors used with photocata lytic reactions (that is, reactions resulting from the photoactivation of s olid semiconductors) is presented. Afterwards, discussing the reactor model ing design methodology, the distinctive problem of photon activated reactio ns - as compared with thermal catalytic systems - is defined: it consists i n the evaluation of the photon absorption rate through the application of t he general radiative transfer equation. Next, the solution of the most impo rtant subproblems associated with its application is set forward. Then, the paper focuses on models based on the fundamentals of chemical reaction eng ineering and radiation field theory applied to solid-gas and solid-liquid r eactors. With this objective, two characteristic examples are succinctly de scribed. Finally, this short review is ended with conclusions concerning th e observed progress in photocatalytic reactor modeling and design in the pu blished literature.