Influence of Dust and Oil Accumulation on Effectiveness of Photocatalytic Concrete Surfaces
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 143, Issue 9
Abstract
The day-to-day negative effect of contaminating substances on the removal effectiveness of photocatalytic surfaces and their recovery capacity after undergoing cleansing is of real academic and practical interest. This paper analyzes the removal effectiveness of two different types of photocatalytic concrete surface layers incorporating nano- particles. Both types of surfaces are examined before and after being subjected to dust accumulation and oil impregnation. The recovery of their removal capacity after undergoing various cleansing processes is also evaluated. The results are compared to those of their respective reference samples. The results show that the high removal capacity of the spray-coated samples is partially maintained even after a high concentration of dust accumulation. However, the water-cleansing process employed is sufficient to recover the lost removal capacity. It is also discovered that the nano- particles lose nearly all their photocatalytic capacity after being subjected to oil impregnation, and that the cleansing processes, either by an alkaline detergent or using an n-hexane solvent, fails to recover the initial removal capacity.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Project of Strategic Importance) for funding support. Ms. Etxeberria also wishes to thank the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, Spain, for the “Jose Castillejo” young researcher programme (Grant No. CAS12/00167) which provided the financial support.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 9 • September 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 12, 2016
Accepted: Jan 23, 2017
Published online: Apr 12, 2017
Published in print: Sep 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Sep 12, 2017
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