Browsing by Keyword "Photocatalytic"
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Item Exposure Assessment During the Industrial Formulation and Application of Photocatalytic Mortars Based on Safer n-TiO2 Additives(2020-03) Vaquero, Celina; Esteban-Cubillo, Antonio; Santaren, Julio; López de Ipiña, Jesús; Galarza, Nekane; Aragón, Gaizka; Múgica, Iñaki; Larraza, Iñigo; Pina-Zapardiel, Raúl; Gutierrez-Cañas, Cristina; PRINTEX; SMART_MONTitanium dioxide nanoparticles (n-TiO2) are added to photocatalytic mortars to improve urban air quality. Their activity can be increased by dispersing and binding them on natural sepiolite surface. Workers handling photocatalytic additives can be exposed to n-TiO2. However, the release of nanoparticles to the workplace can be different if the material used is raw n-TiO2 powders or if the nanoparticles are supported on sepiolite. In this work, we compare occupational exposure to n-TiO2 for raw n-TiO2 and a hybrid additive n-TiO2/sepiolite obtained by a proprietary process. Measurements were performed in two industrial sites that process 1 ton batches of mortars, formulated with the same quantity of n-TiO2, followed by their application outdoors. Direct reading instruments were used to monitor particle number concentration and size distribution. Simultaneously, filter-based samples were collected for mass concentration and microscopy analysis. Two tasks produced a significant release of particles, the addition of fillers during the mortar formulation, in site 1, and the mixing of mortar with water for its application in the second site. For the first task, particle concentration was significantly lower when the n-TiO2/sepiolite was added compared to the raw n-TiO2. For the second task, once the mortar is fully formulated, this metric does not identify differences among the batches. Titanium mass concentration was 3–10 times lower when handling the mortar formulated with the hybrid additive. These results suggest that supporting the n-TiO2 on the sepiolite network not only increases the photocatalytic activity, but is also a safer design that reduces exposure to nanoparticles.Item Photocatalytic Lime Render for Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality Improvement(Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI), 2021-02-25) Ibáñez Gómez, José Antonio; Giampiccolo, Andrea; Tobaldi, David Maria; Mair, Sabine; da Silva, Carla Forbela; Barrasa, Aurora Maria Casado; Maskell, Daniel; Ansell, Martin Philip; Kurchania, Rajnish; Mayer, Florian; Labrincha, Joao Antonio; de Miguel, Yolanda R.; Ball, Richard JamesThis article reports a novel photocatalytic lime render for indoor and outdoor air quality improvement that is composed of a lime binder and doped TiO2 (KRONOClean 7000®) nanoparticles. These nanoparticles were distributed throughout the bulk of the finishing render, instead of as a thin coating, thus ensuring the durability of the photocatalytic properties upon superficial damage. The physical properties of these renders were not affected by the addition of nanoparticles except in the case of surface area, which increased significantly. In terms of their photocatalytic activity, these novel lime renders were shown to degrade up to 12% NOx under UV light and up to 11% formaldehyde under visible light.