Techno-Economic Assessment and Process Design Considerations for Industrial-Scale Photocatalytic Wastewater Treatment

Industrial deployment of photocatalysis for recalcitrant wastewater treatment remains constrained by economic uncertainty and scale-up limitations. This study first reviews the current technological routes and application status of photocatalytic processes and then addresses the key obstacles through a quantitative techno-economic assessment (TEA) of a full-scale (10,000 m3/d) photocatalytic wastewater treatment plant. A process-level model integrating mass- and energy-balance calculations with equipment sizing was developed for a 280 kW UVA-LED reactor using Pt/TiO2 as the benchmark catalyst. The framework quantifies capital (CAPEX) and operating (OPEX) expenditures and evaluates the overall economic performance of the photocatalytic treatment system. Sensitivity analysis reveals that the catalyst replacement interval and electricity tariffs are the principal economic bottlenecks, whereas improvements in catalyst performance alone provide limited cost leverage. Furthermore, the analysis indicates that supportive policy mechanisms such as carbon-credit incentives and electricity subsidies could substantially enhance economic feasibility. Overall, this work establishes a comprehensive integrated TEA framework for industrial-scale photocatalytic wastewater treatment, offering actionable design parameters and cost benchmarks to guide future commercialization.