Reactor Cell for Photocatalysis of Gaseous Species for Industrial Chemical Production

A photocatalytic reactor cell assembly, comprising:

• an outer cell wall comprising a first tube having a first outer diameter and a first inner diameter;
• an inner cell wall comprising a second tube having a second outer diameter and a second inner diameter, wherein the second outer diameter is smaller than the first inner diameter, and wherein the outer cell wall and the inner cell wall are arranged concentrically about a vertical axis to define an annular volume between the outer cell wall and the inner cell wall;
• a top compression endcap fitting having an annular shape and comprising a reactant gas inlet;
• a bottom compression endcap fitting having an annular shape and comprising a product gas outlet, wherein the top compression endcap fitting and the bottom compression endcap fitting respectively form a top seal and a bottom seal with the outer cell wall and the inner cell wall;
• a photocatalyst packed bed positioned in the annular volume between the outer cell wall and the inner cell wall, wherein the photocatalyst packed bed comprises a photocatalyst;
• a porous base filter to position the photocatalyst packed bed in the annular volume, wherein the porous base filter is on an underside of the photocatalyst packed bed closer to the bottom compression endcap fitting than to the top compression endcap fitting, and wherein the porous base filter has a pore size chosen to be gas permeable but impermeable to the photocatalyst in the photocatalyst packed bed;
• and
• a light housing comprising an outer portion and an inner portion, wherein the outer portion is arranged concentrically around the vertical axis outside the outer cell wall, wherein the inner portion is arranged concentrically around the vertical axis inside the inner cell wall, and wherein at least one of the outer portion or the inner portion comprises a circumferential array of photon emitters arranged to uniformly emit photons incident on the photocatalyst packed bed,
• whereby the emission of photons incident on the photocatalyst packed bed activates continuous photo-induced gas-phase reactions as at least one gaseous reactant introduced via the gas inlet flows through the photocatalyst packed bed and at least one resultant gaseous product exits via the gas outlet.