Siphon-driven interfacial photocatalytic reactors enhanced by capillary flow for continuous wastewater treatment

Catalytic membrane reactors based on photo-Fenton reactions have been widely applied in organic wastewater treatment. Conventional porous membrane reactors require a multi-cycle operation to achieve a high degradation efficiency. To realize the continuous treatment of wastewater with high efficiency, we propose a novel siphon-driven interfacial photocatalytic reactor based on the β-FeOOH-coated fabrics in the current work, in which the feed transport is within the fabric rather than across the fabric. The liquid flow is driven by gravity without additional energy input and can be adjusted by the structural parameters to match the reaction rate. Moreover, the confined capillary flow ensures sufficient contact between the feed and catalysts, as well as sufficient sunlight utilization, leading to the high degradation efficiency (>99 %) for a variety of organic contaminants such as tetracycline and dyes. The relationship between the fabric structural parameters and degradation performance was also investigated to achieve an optimal design.