WO2007102701A1

WO2007102701A1 - Photolysis and photocatalaysis air pollution treatment system using electrodeless uv lamp

Info

Publication number: WO2007102701A1
Application number: PCT/KR2007/001124
Authority: WO
Inventors: Byung Dae Rho
Original assignee: Puripax Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2006-03-07
Filing date: 2007-03-07
Publication date: 2007-09-13
Also published as: KR100671232B1

Abstract

Disclosed herein are to a spray humidifying unit for solving water-soluble gas in a solvent and collecting the gas, comprising a spray humidifying unit for solving water-soluble gas in a solvent and collecting the gas; a first chevron filter unit for collecting and exhausting mist in which the water-soluble gas is dissolved through the spray humidifying unit to decrease load; a dehu- midifying unit having a cooling element coupled thereto to adjust temperature to a dew point; an electrostatic filer unit having a minus (-) electrode for electrically charging micro dust of inflow air to remove micro dust using an electrostatic effect; an air-transmissive plate-type ultraviolet lamp for exhausting electrodeless ultraviolet using magnetron; a photolysis unit for making inflow gas dissociated according to a photochemical reaction; a honeycomb-shaped photocatalyst filter unit arranged adjacent to the plate-type ultraviolet lamp; a spay nozzle mounted in the photolysis unit for cleaning acid adhered to a surface of a photocatalyst; and a second chevron filter unit for collecting scaterred mist.

Description

PHOTOLYSIS AND PHOTOCATALYSIS AIR POLLUTION TREATMENT SYSTEM USING ELECTRODELESS UV LAMP

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates generally to an air pollution treatment system and, more particularly, to a photolysis and photocatalysis air pollution treatment system using electrodeless UV lamp which treats a various types of air pollution using the high photochemical characteristics of electrodeless short wavelength ultraviolet light.

[2]

Background Art

[3] Pure gas includes oxygen, nitrogen, a small amount of hydrogen, argon or the like and moisture and a small amount of carbon dioxide, and a harmful compound into which several molecules are combined does not exist. However, nowadays, micro dust and volatile organic material generated from population explosion and industrialization, and NO , SO generated upon combustion of fossil fuel, as well as bad smell generated from several processes not only injure people's health but also cause global warming and disruption of the ozone layer, thereby damage due to air pollution getting serious.

[4] By the way, the sources of such air pollution are differently generated from diverse places, so that it is considerably difficult to prevent the generation or to effectively process exhausted pollutant.

[5] Therefore, a porous filter, such as activated carbon, for adsorbing harmful gas molecules, a bio-filter for decomposing them through the metabolism of bacteria, or a method of decomposing and oxidizing gas through low-temperature plasma is conventionally used in order to remove bad smell among air pollution generated.

[6] Furthermore, with respect to high concentrations of VOC emitted in a chemical process, a Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer (ROT) of directly oxidizing them through a separate heat source, or a Regenerative Catalytic Oxidizer (ROC) of removing them using catalyzer at low-temperature is used. A scrubber for removing micro dust and water-soluble gas contained in air using liquid may be used.

[7] However, a method of absorbing gas using an activated carbon among the above- descried methods is relatively simple, but there are difficulties in that an apparatus for collecting gas becomes bigger, the activated carbon must be periodically exchanged, related cost is required and waste matter must be post-processed.

[8] Furthermore, in the case where the bio-filter which decompose bad-smelling molecules using bacteria is used, since the management of bacteria is very difficult and specific gas is only processed depending on the kind of the bacteria, usage range is limited, and as residence time is longer, the apparatus is bigger, so that it is difficult for the bio-filter to be applied to indoor installation or a small-scale business site.

[9] Furthermore, among methods of processing volatile organic compound, ROT, which is a process of collecting and oxidizing oxidizable material, is efficient at high concentration, but has a disadvantage at low concentration in that separate fuel is continuously provided. RCO uses platinum, tungsten, or vanadium as a catalyzer, so that fuel cost decreases, but cost for exchange of catalyzer is expensive, thereby falling generality because of the burden of operation.

[10] Meanwhile, harmful gases that pollutes atmosphere are almost compounds generated by combining several elements and having inherent characteristics. Such characteristics are maintained as long as the bound molecular structure is not broken. The binding energy between respective elements constituting a molecule differs depending on the kind of elements and binding types. At this time, when external energy that is higher than the binding energy is applied to a molecule, the molecule is dissociated into respective elements (in this case, required energy is dissociation energy). When photochemical energy irradiated through light is applied, among Thermal, Electrical, Chemical, photochemical energy that dissociates molecular combination, harmful gas compound can be decomposed.

[11] Light is classified into infrared, visible rays and ultraviolet depending on frequency or wavelength distribution. The binding energy of a gas molecule is hundreds of kJ/ mol, and most of molecules can be dissociated using short- wavelength ultraviolet energy.

[12] Meanwhile, a principle of generating ultraviolet using a discharge lamp is to fill a lamp body with gas having a ultraviolet spectrum and flow discharge current through electrodes, thereby an outer electron of a mercury atom being excited. Here, the outer excited electrons are transited from a high energy orbital to a low energy orbital to emit optical energy to the amount of orbital changes. In addition, to obtain higher optical energy, when the discharge current is increased, a life of a discharge electrode decreases abruptly and thus an ultraviolet lamp with high power becomes less practical.

[13] As a result, a technology of using electrodeless ultraviolet lamp in order to acquire an ultraviolet optical source with high output power is disclosed in the electrodeless ultraviolet generator of Korean Patent No. 0524407 (issued on October 28, 2005). In summary, when electrons reciprocate within high-frequency AC electric field in which the direction of electric field is continuously reversed, electrons collide with gas molecules, and, at this time, spectrum is emitted depending to kinds of gases. Here, the electrodeless ultraviolet lamp without any electrodes is an innovative ultraviolet optical source which is free from a failure caused from electrodes, and optical output power of which is determined according to an applied high-frequency power.

[14] That is, in a discharge tube mounted within the high-frequency electric field of a high density, gas molecules inside are excited, causing discharge. Therefore, electrodes are not formed within a vacuum tube, and the discharge tube is located within high- frequency magnetic field, so that continuous spectrum of light is irradiated according the characteristics of gas within the discharge tube. The high-frequency electric field used in this case is super-high frequency generated using magnetron, and is characterized to generate thousands watt of super-high frequency power through a relatively simple apparatus.

[15] However, the photochemical reaction on gas is determined depending on the wavel ength, exposure time and the amount of light of ultraviolet irradiated for each unit area, so that a function to irradiate enough amount of light to an irradiation area of a special purpose is required, and several parameters, such as the shape and resonance efficiency of a microwave resonant cavity, the electron field density distribution value of resonated electric field pattern must be applied, and therefore, the structure design of a resonance cavity is very difficult.

[16] Meanwhile, the components of polluted air includes components including sulfur such as hydrogen sulfide, disulfide methyl or the like, components including nitrogen such as amine, and components including chlorine such as dioxin or the like, besides hydrocarbon, aldehyde composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxide. Here, the former polluted gas is to be harmless just through decomposition; however, the later polluted gas is not perfectly to be harmless just through decomposition, so that an apparatus for stabilizing the gas in a state of acid, such as nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, or the like, and preventing it from being exited to the exterior is required.

[17] Furthermore, when being stabilized in a state of acid, the gas is caused to adhere to the surface of a photocatalyst, and become the cause of gradually degrading the reaction of the photocatalyst. Therefore, a solution of preventing this phenomenon is required. Reaction promoted by a photocatalyst enables moisture(H O) on the surface of the photocatalyst to be decomposed into electrons and holes emitted through the photo reaction of a photocatalyst, thereby an OH radical being generated. The oxidation potential of the OH radical is 3.06eV, and has characteristics of oxidizing most of organic matter. Therefore, in order to efficiently generate oxidation reaction of a photocatalyst, suitable moisture concentration is required inside a treated-gas. However, excessive moisture acts as a factor of collecting water-soluble gas having high solubility and preventing photochemical reaction, so that there is a problem in that proper humidity control is to be an essential control condition.

[18] Disclosure of Invention

Technical Problem

[19] Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for processing various air pollutions using photolysis reaction promoted by an electrodeless ultraviolet lamp and photochemical reaction promoted by pho- tocatalyst which processes a various types of air pollution using the high photochemical characteristics of electrodeless short wavelength ultraviolet light.

[20] Another object of the present invention is to an apparatus for processing air pollution which stably and perfectly processes all air pollution components, can be small-sized and lighten, is applied to from indoor environment to large-scaled industries in places of a conventional bio-filter for removal of bad smell, is used for all air pollution, such as bad smell, NOx, Sox volatile organic compound and the like, requires low maintenance and management expenses, and provides large contribution to atmosphere environment management field.

[21] Still another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for processing air pollution which uses an electrodeless lamp, thereby eliminating cause of decreasing life thereof due to degradation of electrodes to allow permanent usage, decreases mercury pollution due to disuse of a lamp, thereby providing large environmental effect.

[22] Still another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for processing air pollution which resolves the treatment of fluent gas, such as dioxin, and biological pollution which have been difficult problems.

[23]

Technical Solution

[24] In order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides photolysis and photocatalysis air pollution treatment system using electrodeless UV lamp, comprising a spray humidifying unit for solving water-soluble gas in a solvent and collecting the gas; a first chevron filter unit for collecting and exhausting mist in which the water-soluble gas is dissolved through the spray humidifying unit to decrease load; a dehumidifying unit having a cooling element coupled thereto to adjust temperature to a dew point; an electrostatic filer unit having a minus (-) electrode for electrically charging micro dust of inflow air to remove micro dust using an electrostatic effect; an air-transmissive plate-type ultraviolet lamp for exhausting electrodeless ultraviolet using magnetron; a photolysis unit for making inflow gas dissociated according to a photochemical reaction; a honeycomb-shaped photocatalyst filter unit arranged adjacent to the plate-type ultraviolet lamp; a spay nozzle mounted in the photolysis unit for cleaning acid adhered to a surface of a photocatalyst; and a second chevron filter unit for collecting scattered mist. [25]

Brief Description of the Drawings

[26] FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an photolysis and photocatalysis air pollution treatment system using electrodeless UV lamp according to the present invention.

[27] FIG. 2 is a plan view of electrodeless ultraviolet lamp structure illustrated in FIG. 1.

[28] FIG. 3 is a diagram exemplarily showing the distribution of electric field in a resonator constituting the present invention.

[29] FIG. 4 is a perspective view schematically showing a 2-step distribution-type electrodeless apparatus for generating ultraviolet according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[30] FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of a magnetron launcher having a 2-branch slot constituting the present invention.

[31] FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a dehumidifying unit using a chevron filter constituting the present invention.

[32] FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a dehumidifying unit using a chevron filter another embodiment a screen unit constituting the present invention.

[33] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the flow of air within the chevron filter constituting the present invention.

[34] FIGS 9 and 10 are diagrams showing carriers for oxidation treatment promoted by photocatalyst according to the present invention.

[35]

Mode for the Invention

[36] A photolysis and photocatalysis air pollution treatment system using electrodeless

UV lamp according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[37] FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a system for treating a pollutant in a gas state according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

[38] Referring to FIG. 1, photolysis and photocatalysis air pollution treatment system using electrodeless UV lamp according to an preferred embodiment of the present invention includes, a spray humidifying unit for making water-soluble gas to be dissolved in a solvent and collecting the gas, a first chevron filter unit for collecting and exhausting mist in which the water-soluble gas is dissolved through the spray humidifying unit to decrease load, a dehumidifying unit having a cooling element coupled thereto to adjust temperature to a dew point, an electrostatic filer unit having a minus (-) electrode 31 for electrically charging micro dust of inflow air to remove micro dust using an electrostatic effect, an air-transmissive plate-type ultraviolet lamp for exhausting electrodeless type ultraviolet using magnetron, a photolysis unit for making inflow gas dissociated according to a photochemical reaction, a honeycomb- shaped photocatalyst filter unit arranged adjacent to the plate-type ultraviolet lamp, a spay nozzle mounted in the photolysis unit for cleaning acid adhered to a surface of a photocatalyst, and a second chevron filter unit for collecting the scattered mist

[39] As shown in FIG. 1, bad-smelling polluted air 1, among which dust particles having large diameters are filled out by passing through a free filter 10, flows into an air blower 11 which is composed of both inhalation sirocco fans. The sirocco fan is capable of exhausting air with relatively high wind pressure, and thus can prevent the reduction of the amount of wind due to the loss of the wind pressure to be occurred in a subsequent stage.

[40] The present invention relates to an apparatus for processing harmful gas based on a photochemical method, but a pre-processing apparatus to be described below may be attached thereto in order to improve efficiency and reliability in the main functions thereof.

[41] In the case where the pollution components of inflow air contains a great quantity of water-soluble gas, such as ammonia or alcohol, which is relatively soluble in water, the spray-type humidifying unit is constructed in a water cleaning (scrubber) way to reduce the concentration thereof using a relatively simple method. In figures, the spray-type humidifying unit is composed of a mist spray nozzle 20, it's support bracket 21, and a hose 23 and a pump 24 for supplying water, which minutely vaporizes water in the inlet of harmful gas and sprays them. Then, water-soluble gas molecules are dissolved in minute water particles when being mixed within and exhausted from the air blower 11. The separation and exhaustion of the mist, in which water-soluble gas are dissolved, are performed by the first chevron filter unit composed of the chevron filter 30, thereby reducing the load of a main apparatus.

[42] The chevron filter 30 commonly used in the pre-processing steps is made of metal plate material, a thermal conductivity of which is good, having a structure similar to that of D shaped character, thereby having a bent structure in order to guide collision with inflow air, and the structure and operational principle thereof are described below.

[43] FIGS. 6 to 8 are diagrams showing the chevron filter 30 used for a de-dusting, a de- humidifying, and an antacid operations. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a dehu- midifying unit using a chevron filter constituting the present invention, FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a de-dusting unit using a chevron filter according to another embodiment constituting the present invention, and FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the flow of air within the chevron filter constituting the present invention. As shown in FIG. 8, the chevron filters 30 are arranged to be parallel to each other for air to pass through gaps therebetween, so that the air continuously collides with bent surfaces, thereby causing a vortex around the air pocket 36. A portion into which air flows is separated from the exterior with a plate member 33 as shown in FIG. 7, but an air pocket 36 portion is exposed to have pressure difference from the exterior.

[44] Furthermore, a cooling element 32 extending in a width direction is arranged adjacent to one end of the chevron filter 30 and, and thermoelectric elements 40, 42, which are respectively heating and cooling elements based on Peltier effect in which a heating phenomenon occurs in one surface and a heat absorption phenomenon occurs in the other surface when current flow therethrough, are arranged in another end of the chevron filter 30. In each of thermoelectric elements 40 and 42 shown in FIG. 6, a cooling phenomenon due to the heat absorption occurs in a front surface and a heating phenomenon occurs to emit the heat in a rear surface when a current flows therethrough. Therefore, when the heat collected in the rear surface is transferred to another place to emit the heat, a cooling is continuously carried out in the cooled surface. A thermal conductor 41 is attached to the cooled surface of each of the thermoelectric elements 40 and 42, thereby be coupling to the chevron filter 30, so that the temperature of the cooled surface is transferred to the chevron filter 30. Such elements constitute the dehumidifying unit.

[45] Meanwhile, as a solution to the case where inflow air contains much mote, charged electrodes 31 constituting an electrostatic filter unit is provided between the chevron filters 30, so that polluted air, having passed through air blower 11, passes through the charged electrodes 31 and thus solid components, such as micro dust, contained in the inflow air, are charged into negative (-). Such air also passes through the chevron filters 30 where the chevron filters 30 are charged into positive (+) to absorb micro dust having static electricity.

[46] In the chevron filters 30 according to the present invention, concave inverse- projections are mounted on respective bent portions, thereby collecting mist and micro dust. The angle of bent portions falls within 130 to 165 degrees. In the state in which chevron filters 30 are formed in a parallel to each other, the angle of gas flow can be controlled, and preferably is made of copper or aluminum having a low thermal resistance.

[47] In a subsequent, an air-transmissive plate type ultraviolet lamp unit for decomposing pre-processed polluted air or gas to be processed, having the decreased concentration of water-soluble gas, is arranged.

[48] In the present invention, pollution gas including bad smell is a great quantity of low-concentration gas continuously generated, so that a continuous processing is preferred. For this processing, an ultraviolet optical source used as a resonator, in which a ultraviolet lamp is mounted, has a flat hexahedron structure and resonates in TE055 mode, both sides of which is made of metal lattice net such that electromagnetic waves is shielded and resonates within the lattice net, ultraviolet is irradiated through the lattice, and gas freely passes therethrough. Here, it is required that a plurality of electrodeless lamp is arranged in a resonance cavity while their resonance patterns are identical to electronic resonance patterns, thereby improving the efficiency of optical transformation.

[49] Such lamp bodies are stacked in multi-stages, and a honeycomb coated with pho- tocatalyst is inserted into every stacked surfaces, so that it is preferred to cause photochemical reaction and oxidization reaction due to photocatalyst, thereby decomposing molecules and stably oxidizing the decomposed elements

[50] FIGS. 2 to 5 are views showing the constructions of a microwave electrodeless ultraviolet lamp unit embodied to the present invention.

[51] The microwave electrodeless ultraviolet lamp unit includes a magnetron 103 that is a microwave generator, and a magnetron launcher 105 configured to resonate electromagnetic waves oscillated by the magnetron. Here, the magnetron launcher 105 branches the electromagnetic waves through respective wave node points 110 and 111 and respectively supplies the branches to upper and lower resonators 100 and 150 respectively housed a lamp. Furthermore, between the upper and lower resonators 100 and 150, a photochemical reaction chamber 50, to which high density ultraviolet that is generated by the electrodeless ultraviolet lamp is irradiated, is formed. The upper and lower resonators 100 and 150 in which lamps are respectively received, are divided by electro magnetic shielding walls 104, and there is a opening on the wall, through which the ultraviolet lamp 106 passes, so that one lamp is commonly used by two resonators.

[52] Generally, a magnetron power supply adopts half- wave voltage doubling scheme, and is operated only for (+) or (-) of one period when using a conventional 60Hz power supply. According to the present invention, two magnetrons 103 are operated in inverse-phase with respect to each other, thereby reducing blank time through mutual complementation. The reason for this is that the ultraviolet lamps are received in the resonators 101 and 102 through the wall 104, and the loss of electromagnetic waves occurs through the openings of the walls 104. When the ultraviolet lamp received within the resonator starts to discharge, the interior of a tube represents the characteristics of a conductor due to free electrons, thereby intercepting the transmission path of electromagnetic wave, so that it is difficult to transfer the energy of electromagnetic waves to several lamps uniformly. Therefore, according to the present invention, propagation paths 107 and 108 are provided within the resonator as illustrated in FIG. 2, thereby making the distribution of electric field uniform within the resonator.

[53] Referring to FIG. 5, the length of the wavelength of electromagnetic waves within free space is 12.2 cm in the resonance pattern of a case where the resonators 101 and 102 resonate in TE055 mode, but the length λg of one wavelength within a space surrounded by a specific conductor, such as a wave guide, is longer than it. The magnetron launcher 105 embodied to the present invention uses a wave guide having a width of 82.5 mm, so that λg is 268mm, and the interval between slots 110, 111 respectively formed in the wave node points of electromagnetic waves is to be 134mm. Here, the resonator having a thickness of 35mm is located in the interval and a honeycomb photocatalyst having a thickness of 90 mm is inserted thereinto. An example of the combination of the slots 110 and 111 and the resonators 100 and 150 is illustrated in FIG. 4.

[54] In the present invention, the electrodeless ultraviolet lamp is driven by a super-high frequency oscillation magnetron. High frequency is provided to a plate-type resonator in a TEOnm mode through slots formed on each 1/2 wavelength-wave node point of the magnetron launcher (In this case, n and m are integers of 3 to 12), the transmission path of electromagnetic waves is provided within the resonator.

[55] Furthermore, in the present invention, the upper surface of each of the resonators

101 and 102 is made of a metal lattice net, and the caliber of the lattice net is 1 to 5 mm, and n or m electrodeless ultraviolet lamps are arranged on the same plane within each of the resonators 101 and 102 (Here, n and m are integers within a range of 3 to 12).

[56] Furthermore, the plate-type ultraviolet lamps are arranged to be stacked and honeycomb-shaped photocatalysts are stacked and inserted therebetween. Here, a cell diameter of the photocatalyst falls within a range of 2 to 5 mm, and a thickness of the photocatalyst is falls within a range of 20 to 100 mm.

[57] Furthermore, the ultraviolet lamp is made of Quartz material having characteristics of cutting off short- wavelength around 200 nm, and is a low-pressure ultraviolet lamp that is filled with 0.5-2 mg mercury for each volume of 1 cm , and has a caliber of 12-22 mm and an entire length falling within 400-1200 mm.

[58] Meanwhile, when a plurality of magnetrons that are the operation source of the ultraviolet lamps are used, phases are opposite to each other when the alternating current input of the magnetron power supply is single-phase, and when three-phase power is used, each phase is separated and supplied to the power supply, thereby mutually complementing dead time.

[59] A honeycomb-shaped photocatalyst filter unit is located adjacent to the ultraviolet lamps constructed as described above and a spray nozzle is mounted on the front of the photocatalyst in order to wash acid attached on the surface of the photocatalyst, and a second chevron filter unit for collecting scattered mist is provided, which are described in detail below. [60] In the case where harmful gas is decomposed into carbon and hydrogen such as alcohol, hydrocarbon, or the like through optical dissociation by passing through the ultraviolet lamps, there is no problem. However, when sulfur or chlorine such as hydrogen sulfide and methyl chloride is contained therein, but there is substance that should not be exhausted in being decomposed. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is provided with a photocatalyst filter unit 60 in order to oxidize the substance using OH radicals to be stabilized to acid, such as a hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, or the like, and collect them, thereby not being exhausted toward the atmosphere, and separately clans generated acid.

[61] Photocatalyst is a kind of a semiconductor, and emits electrons and holes due to the photoelectric effect when optical energy that is higher than band gap energy of the semiconductor is provided thereto. Here, the electrons and holes act on water molecules to generate OH radicals. The generated OH radicals oxidize most of organic and inorganic molecules.

[62] Metal-oxide photocatalyst includes TiO₂(3.2eV), WO₃(2.8eV), SrTiO₃(3.2eV), α-Fe

O (3.IeV), ZnO(3.2ev). and Metal sulfide photocatalyst includes ZnS(3.6eV) or the like.

[63] The photooxidation reaction activity of an oxide semiconductor represents the order of TiO (anatase)> TiO (rutile) > ZnO > ZrO > SnO > V O and TiO represents the highest activity, which is biologically and chemically inert, is resistant to optical corrosion and chemical corrosion, and is most inexpensive. The band gap energy of TiO is 3.2eV, and starts to be activated in an ultraviolet region shorter than 370nm. As the wavelength is shorter, optical activation increases. That is, in a photocatalyst oxidization process, a short-wavelength excitation optical source is essential. In order to acquire a great quantity of OH radical, an ultraviolet optical source having a large photocatalyst surface and high energy density is required, and gas to be processed reacts to the generated OH radical while passing through the photocatalyst surface. These conditions are difficult to make.

[64] In the present invention, aluminum honeycombs 6163 on which photocatalyst are coated are mounted on both surfaces of the electrodeless ultraviolet lamp body having a plan structure, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, thereby constructing a photocatalyst filter unit 60. Here, ultraviolet is irradiated to the interior of the cell of each honeycomb and, at the same time, gas to be processed passes through the cell, thereby solving this problem. As the size of the cell of each honeycomb is smaller, the surface area thereof increases, so that contact efficiency with gas increases. In the present invention, photocatalyst is coated on the aluminum honeycombs 6163 having a cell size of 1/16-1/8 inch, thereby achieving this object.

[65] FIG. 9 shows the structure of a honeycomb on which photocatalyst is coated. As described above, when ultraviolet is irradiated on the photocatalyst, the photocatalyst emits electrons and holes, and the electrons and holes act on water molecules to generate OH radicals. Here, as the interval between cells in the honeycomb is finer, the contact efficiency with air increases, but it is difficult to reduce mechanically the interval between cells. FIG. 10 shows that the interval of cells decreases when honeycombs are stacked, in which 3 honeycombs 61, 62 and 63 are stacked to decrease the size of existing cells to one sixth, thereby increasing contact efficiency with air.

[66] Meanwhile, the photochemical reaction of ultraviolet has the effect of killing virus or bacteria, and can be described as a photolysis appearance on hydrogen atoms which couple chains in DNA double stranded chain. Eventually, the photochemical reaction has the effect on killing virus or bacteria as well as the effect on a harmful gas, so that the apparatus of processing pollution gas proposed in the present invention has an excellent advantage in a clean room such as where environmental hygiene is required.

[67] Such oxidation treatment is performed in the surface of the photocatalyst, so that sulfur or chlorine components are stabilized to sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid, causing to be adhered to the surface of the photocatalyst and thus they become the cause of gradually degrading the function thereof. In order to resolve this problem, it is necessary to periodically wash the surface of the photocatalyst. In the present invention, the spray nozzle is provided to periodically spray cleaning solution to wash the photocatalyst.

[68] In the process in which the cleaning solution resulting from the washing of the photocatalyst is scattered and exhausted along with treated air, the cleaning solution passes through a chevron filter 80 for collecting acid which constitutes the second chevron filter unit, so that mist is collected and only air components are exhausted to the exterior.

[69] Furthermore, according to the present invention, when the pollution components of polluted air is a high concentrations of volatile organic compound, the apparatus for dissolving and collecting water-soluble gas acts as an apparatus for condensing and collecting the volatile organic compound. The dust, moisture and mist collected by a filter are caused to be exhausted towards the exterior using pressure difference.

[70] Next, the operation of the apparatus for processing air pollution using photolysis reaction promoted by an electrodeless ultraviolet lamp and photochemical reaction promoted by photocatalyst according to the present invention constructed as described above is described below.

[71] In the case where the pollution components of inflow air contains a great quantity of water-soluble gas, such as ammonia or alcohol, which is relatively soluble in water, when a spray nozzle unit, comprising a mist spray nozzle 20, it's support bracket 21, and a hose 23 and a pump 24 for supplying water, minutely vaporizes water and sprays them toward the inlet of harmful gas, water-soluble gas molecules and the like are soluble in the minute particles of water when being mixed within and exhausted from the air blower 11, and separation and exhaustion are performed on the mist, in which water-soluble gas are dissolved by the chevron filter 30, thereby reducing the load of a main apparatus.

[72] In another case where inflow air contains a great quantity of mote, the polluted air, having passed through the air blower 11, passes through the charged electrodes 31 constituting an electrostatic filter unit, so that solid components, such as micro dust, contained in the inflow air, are charged negative (-). The air also passes through the chevron filters 30, where the chevron filters 30 are charged positive (+) to absorb micro dust having static electricity.

[73] In still another case in which inflow air contains a great quantity of moisture, the inflow air is dehumidified at the time of reduction of photochemical processing efficiency.

[74] Gas to be processed, in which the concentration of polluted air or water-soluble gas has been reduced in the pre-processed state, flows into the photochemical reaction chamber 50 to which ultraviolet is irradiated, so that optical energy of about 20mW/cm /sec irradiated from the ultraviolet lamp decomposes the pollution components of the inflow air. The primary wavelength of the ultraviolet lamp, which is 254nm, causes molecules, the binding energy of molecules of which is lower than 460KU/mole, to be dissociated, thereby decomposing most of bad smell and the volatile organic compound, nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides which are air pollution components.

[75] With the exception of the case in which harmful gas is decomposed into carbon and hydrogen such as alcohol, hydrocarbon, or the like, if sulfur or chlorine components such as hydrogen sulfide and methyl chloride, which should not be exhausted as it is, is contained as a result of decomposition, the sulfur or chlorine components are oxidized by the photocatalyst filter unit 60 so as to be oxidized using OH radical, are stabilized to acids such as sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid, are collected and are not exhausted toward the atmosphere, and the generated acids are removed through a separate acid- claaning process.

[76] In the step of oxidizing photocatalyst, the short- wavelength excitation optical source is essentially required. In the present invention, aluminum honeycombs 6163, on which photocatalyst are coated, are mounted on both surfaces of the electrodeless ultraviolet lamp body having a plan structure, so that ultraviolet is irradiated to the interior of each cell of the honeycomb and, at the same time, gas to be processed passes through the cell, thereby solving this problem. Furthermore, since such oxidation treatment is performed in the surface of the photocatalyst, a spray nozzle (not shown) is provided to periodically wash the surface of the photocatalyst in order to preventing the case in which sulfur or chlorine components are stabilized to sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid, being caused to be adhered to the surface of the pho- tocatalyst, and then gradually degrading the function thereof. Here, while the cleaning solution resulting from the washing of the photocatalyst is scattered and exhausted along with treated air, it passes through the second chevron filter unit consisting of a chevron filter 80 for collecting acid, so that mist is collected and only air components are exhausted to the exterior.

[77] Meanwhile, prior to treatment of the polluted air by the photocatalyst filter unit 60, the decomposition processes of polluted air in the electrodeless ultraviolet lamp is performed as follows.

[78] Electromagnetic waves generally having a frequency of 2450 MHz ± 20MHz which is oscillated by the magnetron 103, which is means for generating micro wave, resonates through the magnetron launcher 105 in TEO 12 mode as shown in FIG. 5, is divided into two through respective wave node points 110 and 111 and flows into upper and lower resonators 100 and 150 in which lamps are respectively received. When the ultraviolet lamp arranged within each of the resonators starts to discharge, the interior of a tube represents the characteristics of a conductor due to free electrons, thereby intercepting the transmission path of electromagnetic wave, so that it is difficult to transfer the energy of electromagnetic waves to several lamps uniformly. Therefore, in the present invention, propagation paths 107 and 108 are provided within the resonator as illustrated in FIG. 2, thereby making the distribution of electric field uniform within the resonator.

[79] The dust-collecting, dehumidifying and acid-removing operation of the chevron filter unit is described below. When air passes through the gap between the arranged chevron filters in a parallel, the air continuously collides with bent surfaces, thereby causing a vortex appearance in the portion of the air pocket 36. When the chevron filter unit is used for a dust-removing function, the micro dust of inflow air, which is charged through charged electrodes 31 constituting the electrostatic filter unit of FIG. 1, collides with the filter 30 of FIGS. 7 and 8. In this process, the chevron filter 30, charged positive (+), absorb micro dust due to electrostatic phenomenon. The micro dust are collected to concave air pocket 36 in which air speed is low, and again exhausted toward the direction 39 of the exterior in which pressure is low to be collected in and exhausted from an collector. Air is exhausted to the inverse direction of an inflow side, and, therefore, minute solid components and gas components are separated from each other.

[80] Meanwhile, when in the state in which temperature is cooled to the dew point thereof, outdoor air is introduced as in FIG. 8, moistures contained in the air are condensed, and collected to the portion of the air pocket 36, thereby being caused to be exhausted to the exterior due to pressure difference. In this case, heat generated on the rear surface of the cooling element 32 is transferred to chevron filters 30 located on an upper portion through a heat conductor 41 uniformly, which then is cooled by air dehumidified and cool. It can be possible to control a temperature by controlling current flowing the thermoelectric element. This is again represented as a result of control of moisture content among inflow air, so that an optimal humidity condition for generation of OH radicals in the photocatalyst is embodied.

[81]

Industrial Applicability

[82] The apparatus for processing air pollution having the above-described construction stably and perfectly processes all air pollution components, can be small-sized and lighten, is applied to from indoor environment to large-scaled industries in places of a conventional bio-filter for removal of bad smell, is used for all air pollution, such as bad smell, NO , SO volatile organic compound and the like, requires low maintenance and management expenses, and provides large contribution to atmosphere environment management field.

[83] Furthermore, the apparatus for generating electrodeless ultraviolet according to the present invention uses an electrodeless lamp, thereby eliminating cause of decreasing life thereof due to degradation of electrodes to allow permanent usage, decreases mercury pollution due to disuse of a lamp, thereby providing large environmental effect.

[84] Furthermore, the present invention resolves the treatment of fluent gas, such as dioxin, and biological pollution which have been difficult problems.

[85] Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.

[86]

Claims

[1] A photolysis and photocatalysis air pollution treatment system using elec- trodeless UV lamp, comprising a spray humidifying unit for solving water-soluble gas in a solvent and collecting the gas; a first chevron filter unit for collecting and exhausting mist in which the water- soluble gas is dissolved through the spray humidifying unit to decrease load; a dehumidifying unit having a cooling element coupled thereto to adjust temperature to a dew point; an electrostatic filer unit having a minus (-) electrode for electrically charging micro dust of inflow air to remove micro dust using an electrostatic effect; an air-transmissive plate-type ultraviolet lamp for exhausting electrodeless ultraviolet using magnetron; a photolysis unit for making inflow gas dissociated according to a photochemical reaction; a honeycomb-shaped photocatalyst filter unit arranged adjacent to the plate-type ultraviolet lamp; a spay nozzle mounted in the photolysis unit for cleaning acid adhered to a surface of a photocatalyst; and a second chevron filter unit for collecting scaterred mist.

[2] The system according to claim 1, wherein the chevron filters include concave inverse-projections mounted on respective bent portions of the chevrons to collect mist and micro dust, wherein an angle of the bent portions falls within a range of 130 to 165 degrees, wherein the chevron filters are formed such that an angle of gas flow can be controlled when being arranged parallel to each other, and wherein the chevron filters are made of copper or aluminum having low thermal resistance.

[3] The system according to claim 1, wherein the electrodeless ultraviolet lamp is driven by a super-high frequency oscillation magnetron, and is constructed such that high frequency is provided to a resonator in TEOnm mode (n and m are integers of 3 to 12) through slots formed on each 1/2 wavelength- wave node point of a magnetron launcher, and wherein transmission path of electromagnetic waves is provided within the resonator.

[4] The system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the plate-type ultraviolet lamp includes a plate-type resonator extending to right and left sides, a metal lattice net is formed on an upper surface of the plate-type resonator, a caliber of the lattice net falls within a range of 1 to 5mm, n or m electrodeless ul- traviolet lamps are arranged on a same plane within the plate-type resonator, and n and m are integers of 3 to 12.

[5] The system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the plate-type ultraviolet lamps are arranged to be stacked and the honeycomb-shaped pho- tocatalyst filter unit is inserted to be stacked therebetween, a cell diameter of the photocatalyst falls within a range of 2 to 5 mm, and a thickness of the pho- tocatalyst is falls within a range of 20 to 100 mm.

[6] The system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein each ultraviolet lamp is a low-pressure ultraviolet lamp which is made of Quartz material having characteristics of cutting off short- wavelength around 200nm, is filled with 0.5 to 2mg mercury per an internal volume of lcm , and has a caliber of 12-22mm and an entire length of 400- 1200mm.

[7] The system according to claim 1, wherein, when a plurality of magnetrons which are operation source of the ultraviolet lamps are used, current input phases of power supplier of the magnetrons are opposite to each other, thereby mutually complementing dead time.

[8] The system according to claim 1, wherein, when pollution components of polluted air is a high concentrations of volatile organic compound, the spray humidifying unit for solving and collecting the gas acts as an unit for condensing and collecting the volatile organic compound, and the dust, moisture and mist collected by the filters are caused to be exhausted towards the exterior using pressure difference.