Global photonic efficiency for phenol degradation and mineralization in heterogeneous photocatalysis

Simple kinetic model is proposed for fitting experimental data of degradation and total organic carbon (mineralization) of phenol. Reaction rates analysis of phenol in water are employed to compare different photocatalysts under the same experimental conditions. The global photonic efficiency for degradation and mineralization of phenol ξg, is calculated to facilitate comparison with other photocatalysts or experimental systems. Under identical conditions of catalyst loading, pH and phenol concentration the most of photocatalysts presented a global efficiency much lower than that for a TiO2 standard photocatalyst named Degussa P-25. However, two photocatalysts prepared by different methods showed approximately the same global efficiency than the commercial material.