- Stage of development
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Technology ready to be tested in an industrial
- Intellectual property
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Priority patent application filed
- Intended collaboration
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Licensing and/or codevelopment
- Contact
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Patricia ThomasVice-presidency for Innovation and Transferpatricia.thomas@csic.escomercializacion@csic.es
- Reference
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CSIC/PT/070
Additional information
#Materials
#Catalyst
#Energy
#Renewable energy source
#Solar / Thermal energy
#Environment
#Water pollution and treatment
Optofluidic microreactor for photodegradation of organic aqueous pollutants
An optofluidic threaded microreactor (OTM) consisting of a externally threaded element (ETE) covered with a suitable catalytic material and inserted into a transparent tube through which the fluid circulates
- Market need
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Helical capillary microreactors are a suitable alternative to chip-type microreactors for the photocatalytic degradation of organic contaminants in water streams. However, this type of microreactors is restricted because the radius of curvature of capillary is limited (small radii lead to material deformation, cross-section inhomogeneity, unwanted clogging, and high pressure drop), and the pitch distance is limited by the thickness of the capillary wall, making it difficult to achieve long capillary lengths (for slow-rate reactions) with a low radius of curvature in small reactor volumes.
- Proposed solution
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The developed OTM allows to implement external lighting sources and temperature control in order to maximize aqueous pollution photodegradation. The ETE generates one or multiple long helical channels for the circulation of the liquid reagent, thus reducing the radius of curvature and increasing the surface area coated with catalytic materials.
The device can be used in optofluidic reactions in liquid phase. Successful results have been achieved in the photodegradation of ibuprofen under low-power UVA radiation, exhibiting very high and stable catalytic activity during long-term experiments in flow mode operation.
- Competitive advantages
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- Low-cost device based on commercially available elements.
- Great versatility in design with optimal use of reactor space and high surface-to-volume ratio.
- It operates efficiently in the degradation of contaminants in water, improving results obtained by expensive chip-type microreactors.