There have been rising concerns about micro-pollutants that are not efficiently removed by conventional wastewater treatment plants. TiO₂ photocatalysis is one of the most promising methods for their removal. One of the major challenges to the widespread application of TiO₂ photocatalytic treatment is the use of fine TiO₂ particles in suspension.

A tray photocatalytic reactor based on using supported TiO₂ as a photocatalyst was designed and constructed. The reactor maintains a thin water film over TiO₂ supported on sand grains. Reactor performance for the degradation of phenol as a model compound was evaluated using 3 different approaches: (1) direct immobilization using the sol gel technique, (2) coating with TiO₂/cement grout; and (3) binding with TiO₂-epoxy coating.

The recirculating tray configuration achieved photocatalyst activation, turbulent flow, avoiding treatment dead zones, and continuous water oxygenation. The reactor performance using the epoxy TiO₂ sand composite was satisfactory in terms of degradation efficiency. The water turbidity remained unchanged indicating photocatalyst resistance to abrasion. Successful operation of the tray photo-reactor in the continuous mode was also achieved. The tray reactor is suitable for scale-up and commercialization due to five distinctive features which are: modular design; integrated storage; ease of continuous mode operation; absence of need for UV transmitting components; robustness and low cost of the epoxy-TiO₂-sand composite.

人们越来越关注无法通过常规废水处理厂有效去除的微污染物。TiO ₂光催化是最有前途的去除方法之一。TiO ₂光催化处理的广泛应用的主要挑战之一是在悬浮液中使用TiO ₂细颗粒。

设计并构建了一种基于负载型TiO ₂作为光催化剂的托盘光催化反应器。该反应器在负载在沙粒上的TiO ₂上保持薄水膜。使用三种不同的方法评估了反应器对苯酚作为模型化合物的降解性能：（1）使用溶胶凝胶技术直接固定化；（2）TiO ₂ /水泥浆涂覆；（3）与TiO _2-环氧涂料结合。

再循环塔盘配置实现了光催化剂的活化，湍流，避免了处理死区以及连续的水氧合。就降解效率而言，使用环氧TiO ₂砂复合物的反应器性能令人满意。水浊度保持不变，表明光催化剂具有耐磨性。托盘光反应器在连续模式下也成功运行。托盘反应器具有五个独特的特征，适合于规模化和商业化：模块化设计；集成存储；易于连续模式操作；不需要紫外线透射成分；环氧-TiO _2-砂复合材料的坚固性和低成本。