Reaction mechanism of photocatalytic degradation of chlorinated ethylenes on porous TiO2 pellets: Cl radical-initiated mechanism

The photoassisted catalytic degradation of chloroethylene was studied in a tubular photoreactor packed with TiO2 pellets prepared by a sol−gel method. The experiments were performed in a noncirculating mode. Kinetic data and the reaction products were compared with those for the photodegradation of ethylene, trichloroethylene, and tetrachloroethylene. The theoretical calculations at the MP4/6-31G**//B3LYP/6-31G** level indicated that the addition of OH radicals to chlorinated ethylenes is more exothermic than that of Cl radicals by 14.6−29.5 kcal mol-1. Examination of Cl mass balance indicated that the concentration of Cl- collected from the TiO2 surface was higher than that from the product gas stream. When the photodegradation of ethylene was performed on the TiO2 pellets which had been used for that of TCE or which were pretreated with HCl, the formation of chloroacetaldehyde was confirmed by the GC/MS. We proposed that during the photodegradation of the chlorinated ethylenes, the Cl-, as one of the re...