Plasma Technology and Its Relevance in Waste Air and Waste Gas Treatment

Abstract

Plasma technology is already used in various applications such as surface treatment, surface coating, reforming of carbon dioxide and methane, removal of volatile organic compounds, odor abatement and disinfection, but treatment processes described in this context do not go beyond laboratory and pilot plant scale. Exemplary applications of both non-thermal plasma and thermal plasma should underline the feasibility of scale-up to industrial application. A non-thermal plasma in modular form was built, which is designed for up to 1000 m³∙h−1 and was successfully practically tested in combination of non-thermal plasma (NTP), mineral adsorber and bio-scrubber for abatement of volatile organic components (VOCs), odorous substances and germs. Thermal plasmas are usually arc-heated plasmas, which are operated with different plasma gases such as nitrogen, oxygen, argon or air. In recent years steam plasmas were gradually established, adding liquid water as plasma gas. In the present system the plasma was directly operated with steam generated externally. Further progress of development of this system was described and critically evaluated towards performance data of an already commercially used water film-based system. Degradation rates of CF4 contaminated air of up to 100% where achieved in industrial scale.

Nitrogen‐containing organic products from the treatment of liquid toluene with plasma‐activated N2 gas

“…1 | INTRODUCTION Since Miller's pioneering studies on the origin of life, showing that amino acids are produced from electric discharges in CH 4 /NH 3 /H 2 O/H 2 atmospheres, [1] the possibility to use plasma as a tool to achieve the synthesis of organic compounds has been intriguing and challenging chemists. [2] One process that has been extensively investigated since then is the oxidation of organic compounds by nonthermal plasma in air or in oxygen-containing gases, with fundamental research in this area being motivated by the interest in developing novel advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) to treat polluted air [3] and water. [4] These studies have provided a deep insight into the discharge-generated reactive species (electrons, molecular excited states, atoms, radicals, ions [5,6] ), which are responsible for the initial attack on the organic pollutants, and into the resulting degradation intermediates and final products.…”

Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Surface Treatment of Polymers and Influence on Cell Cultivation

“…Furthermore, corona discharge volume is very small and due to that, the treatment surface is very small [ 29 ]. Because of the corona discharge advantages, including the ease of implementation, it has numerous applications for example, removal of unwanted volatile organics from the atmosphere [ 30 ], material’s surface treatment [ 31 ], gaseous contamination treatment [ 32 ], water purification [ 33 ], and ozone production [ 34 ]. Furthermore, the negative corona discharge have been studied for the possible use for treatment of microscopic cavities in dentistry due to its antibacterial effect and hairline geometry [ 35 ].…”

Micro-discharge in tortuous pores: ‘splitting-quenching’ of primary ionization wave and the role of pre-ionization

“…Low-temperature plasma is an emerging technology in recent years, which has the advantages of being chemically active, low environmental pollution and less likely to damage heatsensitive materials, and thus has broad application prospects [1][2][3][4]. It has been shown that compared with direct air discharge, porous discharge can significantly increase the reaction efficiency [5], and therefore porous materials are often used to improve the contact area in the fields of plasma * Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed.…”