Frontiers in Chemical Engineering (Nov 2021)

Performances of Homogeneous and Heterogenized Methylene Blue on Silica Under Red Light in Batch and Continuous Flow Photochemical Reactors

  • Maxime Lancel,
  • Catherine Gomez,
  • Marc Port,
  • Zacharias Amara

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fceng.2021.752364
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 3

Abstract

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Methylene blue was efficiently immobilized on silica micro- and nanoparticles by electrostatic interactions and the performances of the heterogenized photocatalysts were compared against the homogeneous conditions using the photooxidation of citronellol as a model reaction under red light, in a batch and a continuous flow photochemical reactor. In batch, the heterogeneous photocatalyst outperforms the homogeneous one, presumably due to kinetic and stability effects. The two catalytic systems are also compared in a flow reactor displaying improved mass transfer properties. We demonstrate that this results in a dramatic enhancement in photocatalyst stability, reactivity and productivity. This study highlights the importance of photocatalyst stability under homogeneous versus heterogenized conditions and in batch versus flow photochemistry.

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