Novel Method for Enhancing the Destruction of Environmental Pollutants by the Combination of Multiple Plasma Discharges

Abstract

A novel, multistage, dielectric, packed-bed, plasma reactor has been developed and is used to efficiently destroy environmental pollutants, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). A three cell plasma reactor, operated at ambient pressure and low temperatures, is found to be an effective technology for complete VOC remediation in air. The combination of plasma cells in series can significantly improve the efficiency of VOC decomposition, but the combined destruction rate is not simply an additive effect, there is a synergistic enhancement related to the effect on the plasma chemistry of sequential processing in the three cells. At the same time, the formation of byproduct such as NOx is strongly suppressed, and it is possible to remediate toluene and ethylene in air, with no detectable formation of NOx or nitric acid.

Coupled surface dielectric barrier discharge reactor-ozone synthesis and nitric oxide conversion from air

“…This is because when multiple discharge chambers are operated with gas flow in series, some of the reactive species formed in the previous discharge chamber survive long enough and have a synergistic effect on the plasma/chemical reactions. So, the combined reaction rates in multiple discharge chambers in series are not a simple addition, there is synergistic enhancement, which is in agreement with earlier literature [33].…”

Optimization of CO2 Conversion in a Cylindrical Dielectric Barrier Discharge Reactor Using Design of Experiments

“…Non-thermal plasma technology has been regarded as a promising alternative to the thermal catalytic route for converting low value and inert carbon emissions, such as CH 4 and CO 2 , into value-added fuels and chemicals at atmospheric pressure due to its non-equilibrium characteristic, low energy cost and unique capability to induce both physical and chemical reactions at ambient conditions. [5][6][7] In non-thermal plasmas, the overall plasma gas temperature can be as low as room temperature, while the electrons are highly energetic with an average electron energy of 1-10 eV which can easily break down most chemical bonds of inert molecules and produce chemically reactive species such as radicals, excited atoms, molecules, and ions for chemical reactions. The non-equilibrium character of such plasmas could enable thermodynamically unfavorable reactions (e.g., CO 2 splitting) to occur at low temperatures (e.g., <200 8C).…”

Catalytic behavior and synergistic effect of nonthermal plasma and CuO/AC catalyst for benzene destruction

“…The synergy of NTP and heterogeneous catalysis (NTP-C) is a promising technology for VOC removal at ambient temperature. Researchers have reported that the NTP-C composite process can greatly reduce the energy consumption, save cost, and improve the biodegradation efficiency (Harling et al 2008;Gerasimov 2007;Chen et al 2009). Specially, the quantities of reaction by-products such as aerosols, ozone, and smaller organic compounds are also significantly reduced over NTP-C system (Kim et al 2005a, b).…”