ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses solar collectors and reactors used especially for environmental remediation. Solar collectors are an important component of solar photoreactor systems. The flat plate collector is the most important type of solar collector because it is simple in design, has no moving parts, and requires little or no maintenance. It is used for low-temperature applications. The application of solar photoreactors goes hand in hand with advances in the design of solar collectors though they are mainly used for solar thermal applications. The light reflected by concentrating parabolic collector is distributed around the back of the tubular photoreactor, illuminating most of the reactor tube circumference. The basic components of parabolic trough collector are the reflecting concentrator, absorber, target tube or photoreactor tube running along the axis of the parabola, tracking system, and the overall structure. Among glasses, borosilicate glass is preferred compared to ordinary glass as a candidate for solar photoreactor.
