Interesting question to discuss. At present the well established photocatalytic application on industrial use is photocatalytic self cleaning surfaces. Other than this, large scale application of photocatalysis phenomenon, is as of yet unmet. But researchers have been working hard, and there would be certainly more applications which we can witness. Carbon capture technology and CO2 reduction technology have been a success in lab scale, and with further fine tuning which includes system optimization and catalysts stability we might see them working at-least on pilot plant.

One of the interesting application of photo-catalytic system might be on industrial waste water treatment. I do not have any experience in this case but based on my experience it should be tested in some industrial pilot plant such as petrochemicals or textile industries.

Dear Mr. Sorcar and dear Ms. Sedghi

Thank you for your attention and guidance to my question. Do you know a company specialized in photocatalysis or photocatalytic self cleaning surfaces? It is interesting for me to know about the challenges in commercialization of photocatalysis.

Industrial waste is one of the major challange for the environment. There are lot more of toxic chemicals which cannot be degraded as such. So, the need is to treat this toxic materials with some photocatalyst which can degrade them or convert them into their less harmful form. This will decease the impact of industries on the environment. Also, one can use the biproducts of indusrial waste after treatment to other works.

Professor Michael Hoffmaan's group at CALTECH is actively working in the field of photocatalysis and have successfully tested pilot scale plants in different places like China and India. Their group's reinvented Toilet Challenge got support from Bill and Melinda Gates foundation in 2012.

In short: The toilet integrates an electrochemical reactor to treat wastewater, providing a safe and inexpensive way to dispose of human waste.

So yes, waste water treatment at large scale is happening and sooner it will be commercialised on large scale.

Also, if one looks at Profesor Wonyoung Choi's group at POSTECH, Korea, they have recently collborated with Samsung to manufacturer Air Purifiers based upon Reduced TiO2 nanotubes.

The field used photocatalysis in waste water treatment you should be focus on the separation of photocatalysis material after used it and the effect of the waste contains on photocatalyst especially if used nanomaterial. The halftime of photocatalysis and stability of it.

I believe that the opportunities are in the treatment of effluent or slurry. The challenges for the implantation of heterogeneous photocatalysis in the industry are related to the manipulation techniques of the catalysts, the life time of the material and economic advantage compared to other similar technologies.

Photocatalytic dye wastewater degradation seems only effective on the low concentration dye solution. Some other physical, chemical, bio-mtthods are also necessary for pre-treatment of wastewater.

since photocatalysis has now been established as a science ,now it is the role of chemical engineer and chemists to first start with a prototype and then venture upon to industry.it has immense potential and to harness its power ,engineers,chemists,physicists and policy makers should come together. japan is doing well in this direction. thanks

Wich kind of waste water ? The major petrochemical waste water in Iran is alifatic waste water. I work in Karun petrochemical company and the waste water is aromatic. Treatment of aromatic waste water is more difficult rather than alifatic waste water.

Excuse me . Aliphatic not alifatic.

Firstly, I would like to appreciate you for asking this very relevant question.

In the last few decades, there are multi-thousands scientific studies reported in the open literature, which are dedicated to the potential applicability of various heterogeneous or solid photocatalysts for the treatment of organic pollutants. Although this technique is quite effective for the removal of volatile organic contaminants present in open-air (as various UV-photocatalysis based air filters are commercially available in the market), the effectiveness under real wastewater situation is still used to quite dubious. It may be noted that the effectiveness of heterogeneous photocatalysis for the treatment of aqueous organic pollutants significantly affected by the background impurities and turbidity of the treatment matrix. Therefore the same process which has shown very promising result with the targeted pollutant(s), may not give expected outcomes in real-field situations. Hence, it is conventionally recommended to apply the heterogeneous photocatalysis at tertiary treatment stages of the wastewater treatment process.

I hope this explanation would be helpful to you.

The future of photocatalysis primarily depends on sustainable energy development and especially Hydrogen production from water splitting. Currently researches are focusing on developing a suitable material like 'Artificial leaf' which can cause water splitting in presence of light.

The focus is to develop a catalytic material which allow photosplitting of water without using any other catalytic agents. Currently I am on the way to write review on related topic. studies can revive the scenario of hydrogen energy production that result in overall pollution free energy processes

The photocatalysis have gained lot of interest from various researchers since last two decades. We know the importance of Agriculture, so, for better productivity and to reduce the pesticide's effectiveness by using different photocatalysts, is future industrial project, according to my knowledge is future industrial project.

I think the challenges of photo-catalysis are in a number of areas:

1. Splitting of water

- to produce cheap hydrogen

-artificial photosynthesis were it is coupled to organic synthesis

-artificial life

2. Removal of VOCs in city air

-air scrubbers for city air and combustion air

-odour removal from air emissions at waste treatment plants

3. Selective absorption/desorption of VOCs catalysed by light or laser

- release of chemicals to effect biological actions - microbiome communication

-plant development stimulation

-pest control

-management of human behaviour in retail environments to encourage purchasing using odour

4. Facilitate bond cleavage

- activation energy to cleave aromatic rings

-dehalogenation of chemicals

-other oxidative reactions

5. Ozone generation

-generation of sterilisation effect of ozone by means of light energy

This is clearly an area of research with huge implications for society and how we manage living systems. Use of carbon materials to replace metal based catalysis is part of this whole movement, as is the need to recover and reuse resources.

I don't work in this area, but I have to say what exciting times lie ahead for young researchers in this area.

Good luck, and I'm jealous not to be part of the journey.

Andrew

Dear Colleagues,

Thank you all for answering my question.

Considering the answer of Mr. @Sathish Botsa , would you please let me know if there are any proceeding in large scale?

Dear Anise,

Please go through it.

Understanding the Role of Nanomaterials in Agriculture published in 2016. This is not my paper but it has good relevant information.

Dwivedi S., Saquib Q., Al-Khedhairy A.A., Musarrat J. (2016) Understanding the Role of Nanomaterials in Agriculture. In: Singh D., Singh H., Prabha R. (eds) Microbial Inoculants in Sustainable Agricultural Productivity. Springer.

Regards

Dear Sir,

Thanks a lot for introducing this useful paper.

I think that Photocatalysis could be an effective alternative to a lot of process methods in various application in the industry such as hydrogen production, water treatment, semiconductor sensors production ...

Not only the use of Photocatalysis as the main process for production but also as secondary solution for environmental issues in the industry, the scale up from lab to industry could be very beneficial.

Photocatalysis is a promising process that can cover a large area of application such as water treatment, air purification, sensors, solar cell, water filtration using incorporated particules in membrane that reduce fouling, water splliting, hydrogen peroxyde and Ozone generation. Photocatalysis proved to be also effectif in metal removal from water.

I would like to think you for this interesting question for me lab-scale is the first step to investigate any issue but is not enough for a scientist because there are many factors that change between industrial and the lab and you need the collaboration with other specialists ( computer engineer for simulations and calculations and mechanical specialists for the design of the pilots). and you have to learn more and work hard to achieve a good result.

We are trying to explore the potential of photocatalysis for industrial applications.

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