Outdoor Air Purification Based on Photocatalysis and Artificial Intelligence Techniques

Abstract

Multiphysics simulation had progressed significantly in the recent years so that predictions of flow around and inside complex geometries are now possible. In this work multiphysics is used to test the efficiency of a new, innovative solution for outdoor air purification using photocatalysis technology. Photocatalysis has received considerable attention in recent years with a huge potential in air purification applications. The work focusses on the semi-active use of photocatalytic surfaces in streets as an innovative method for removing anthropogenic pollutants (especially volatile organic compounds or VOCs) from urban air. This study combines different scientific fields: Physics, Chemistry and Computer engineering. The objective of this work is to design an air purified solution to be implemented in four streets in Tangier. To achieve this goal several techniques were evaluated using COMSOL and Matlab. Artificial intelligence methods allowed finding out optimized purification scenarios for different streets aspect ratio and therefore to design best purification strategies for a cleaner city, taking into account the decrease of the pollution concentration at lower energy cost. The method is based on lamellae, coated with photocatalyst (TiO₂), arranged horizontally at the walls of street canyons and lightened with UV light. A constant initial VOC background concentration was considered in the simulations, with a continuous source of VOCs to simulate the street traffic.