Tomlinson, Samuel D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7180-9443, Tsopelakou, Aliki Marina, Onn, Tzia Ming, Barrett, Steven R.H., Boies, Adam M. and Fitzgerald, Shaun (2026) Modelling the photocatalytic oxidation of methane and other air pollutants for applications in ventilation systems. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 271 (Part 3):129432. ISSN 0017-9310 (Print), 1879-2189 (Online) (doi:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2026.129432)

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Abstract

Photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) is a promising strategy for indoor air purification and outdoor pollutant abatement, potentially offering treatment for climate- and health-relevant pollutants such as methane (CH4), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). In this work, we present experiments evaluating the PCO of CH4 (2 to 10 ppm) under varying UV-C light intensities (4 to 59 W/m2), using titanium dioxide (TiO2) as the photocatalyst. TiO2 achieves a maximum conversion efficiency of 24.4% and a maximum apparent quantum yield of 0.013% over the tested UV-C light intensities, demonstrating activity at environmentally relevant concentrations. We develop a model to interpret the experimental results and assess the potential of PCO for ventilation applications. The model is validated against our CH4 data and literature results for formaldehyde (HCHO) and NOx. While laboratory-scale configurations achieve high conversions (e.g., 24.4% for CH4), ventilation-scale performance is predicted to be limited by thin concentration boundary layers and short residence times, with conversion efficiencies dropping to around 0.017%. Finally, we estimate the climate impact of CH4 removal in terms of CO2e emission rates, demonstrating that TiO2-based PCO in ventilation applications could yield a net climate benefit (i.e., a net-negative CO2e emission rate) when the modelled CO2e removal rate exceeds emissions from catalyst material production and UV-C operation, which could be facilitated by leveraging pre-existing UV-C irradiation.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	photocatalytic oxidation, air pollutant removal, ventilation systems, indoor air quality, climate mitigation
Subjects:	Q Science > Q Science (General) Q Science > QA Mathematics Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science T Technology > T Technology (General)
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Engineering & Science Faculty of Engineering & Science > School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences (CMS)
Last Modified:	08 Sep 2026 14:22
URI:	https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/54362

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