Faculty Publications
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Item Photocatalytic Reactor Modelling Incorporating Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for Water and Air purification: A Concise Review(Springer, 2025) Pandey, P.; K, K.P.; Mohanan, S.; Surenjan, A.Photocatalysis is a potent, advanced oxidation process that is effective in converting hazardous organic contaminants into non-toxic end products, offering a sustainable solution for water and air purification. The degradation process in photocatalysis is primarily influenced by several critical factors, including the illumination source, catalyst (either in the form of a slurry or immobilized), the pH range, and reactor design. Numerous costly, time-consuming, and difficult-to-perform experiment trials are conducted in the laboratory to optimize these operating parameters. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) can be used to surpass these limitations. CFD has several advantages compared to experimentation, such as the capability to conduct many simulations, efficient use of time, cost-effectiveness, and the ability to simulate challenging conditions (such as high temperature, high pressure, or hazardous environments) in various reactor designs. Furthermore, CFD enables the analysis of spatial and temporal variation in independent variables, including velocity variation, reactant concentrations, and light intensity, which provides insights into the reactor. CFD is a popular tool in the field of reactor design and optimization. Its applications include the analysis of flow patterns, the modelling of mass transfer phenomena, and the scaling up of reactor systems to provide efficient designs. This review aims to provide insight into the basic photocatalytic process, the correlation between the photoreactor concept, reaction kinetics, irradiation scenarios (irradiation modelling) and the photocatalytic process parameters (pollution degradation conditions, pollutant type and concentration, different hydrodynamic modelling). © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2025.Item CFD modelling of an immobilised photocatalytic reactor for phenol degradation(IWA Publishing, 2023) Devipriya, B.; Mohanan, S.; Surenjan, A.Photocatalysis is an advanced oxidation process, which has been gaining attention as a sustainable technology for tackling pollution. Optimum design, fabrication and scaling up of novel photocatalytic reactors are faced with problems such as fabrication cost and numerous experimental trials for optimisation. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD), a computer simulation technique can ease the process of scaling up photocatalytic reactors. The current study focuses on CFD modelling of a serpentine flow path photocatalytic reactor with curved baffles for phenol degradation. The investigation compared different reactor configurations to finalise the optimum design with maximum removal efficiency. Initially, a simple cuboidal reactor was chosen with an efficiency of 27%. However, with a serpentine flow path being introduced, the reactor displayed an improved efficiency of 42%. The addition of baffles improved flow homogeneity and degradation efficiency. The investigation showed that serpentine flow increased the residence time and fluid mixing, while the curved baffles prevented flow channelisation, which enhanced the degradation efficiency. Efficiencies corresponding to different baffle types and geometry were also compared and the final reactor design chosen was a horizontal curved baffled serpentine flow reactor with a flow rate of 0.3 L/s and improved efficiency of 43.1% for a residence time of 18.44 s. © 2023 The Authors.Item Photocatalytic degradation of metformin on a rectangular baffled reactor: CFD modeling and validation investigation(Elsevier B.V., 2024) Pandey, P.; Mohanan, S.; Surenjan, A.Solar-irradiated photocatalysis is an advanced oxidation process (AOP) commonly used for water purification due to its excellent potential to break down a diverse range of persistent organic compounds into non-toxic byproducts. Reactor design is crucial in the photocatalysis process's efficiency, effectiveness, and scalability. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is an effective tool to study and comprehend reactor designs, reduce system cost, design time, and optimise reactor performance. This investigation focuses on designing and developing a rectangular baffled photocatalytic reactor that can effectively degrade metformin (MTF). The experimental study optimized the value of pH and catalyst dosage for efficient removal. The photoreactor demonstrated an efficiency of 58.14 % and was validated. The CFD results, including velocity profile and mass fraction of metformin, strongly agreed with the experimental results with an R2 value of 0.9826. The combination of various baffle sizes and spacing configurations was modeled and analyzed to develop a rectangular baffled photocatalytic reactor with maximum removal efficiency. The inclusion of baffles increased the flow path, improved mixing and enhanced the degrading efficiency. The investigation findings indicated the highest degradation efficiency of 78.03 % with the seven number of baffles. © 2024Item CFD Modeling and Analysis of the Effect of Baffles in an Immobilized Annular Photocatalytic Reactor for Ethylene Degradation(Springer, 2025) Sandesh, V.H.; Mohanan, S.; Surenjan, A.In recent years, the adverse effect of indoor air pollution on human well-being has become a topic of concern. Although conventional treatment approaches have demonstrated success in pollutant degradation, they often prove inadequate when dealing with persistent pollutants. Photocatalysis is a sustainable technique which can degrade such pollutants without harmful by-products. The study focuses on the photocatalytic degradation of ethylene in an annular photocatalytic reactor with different baffle configurations using computational fluid dynamics. The results indicate that the use of Longitudinal baffles in reactors has improved the reactor efficiency owing to the flow uniformity and Longer flow path length. Different baffle configurations were modeled using ANSYS Fluent, and the flow, species concentration, distribution, and reaction rates were studied. The novel design of a four-baffled reactor was found to have an efficiency of 68.96% for a hydraulic retention time of 5.597 s and a flow rate of 58.34 L/min. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2025.