Influence of Polarity and Rise Time of Pulse Voltage Waveforms on Diesel Particulate Matter Removal Using an Uneven Dielectric Barrier Discharge Reactor

The influence of polarity and rise time of the pulse voltage on the removal of particulate matter (PM) emitted from a diesel engine was investigated using a dielectric barrier discharge reactor. Four kinds of pulse voltage waveforms (positive, negative, positive–negative and negative–positive) were used. It was found that the energy efficiency for PM removal is just a function of energy injection and that there are no obvious influences on PM removal and energy efficiency within the voltage waveforms except the negative pulse voltage of a peak voltage below 8 kV. A comparison of PM removals using various kinds of pulse voltage waveforms and different types of plasma reactors is given.     

Elimination of Carbon Monoxide in the Gas Streams by Dielectric Barrier Discharge Systems with Mn Catalyst

Elimination of CO in air stream using the plasma catalytic reactors was investigated. Two plasma catalytic systems were evaluated in this study, one consisting of a catalyst-bed packed in plasma zone of a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor directly (CID reactor), and the other (CAD reactor) consisting of a catalyst-bed after a DBD reactor. The examined operating parameters in this study included applied voltage, discharge power, the lengths of plasma zone and catalyst-bed, and inlet CO concentration. It was found that the glass packed DBD reactor without catalyst cannot eliminate CO in air stream effectively. When MnO_x catalyst applied to DBD reactors, the removal of 1000 ppm CO can achieve to 97% by both type reactors. Under constant energy input condition, the CO removal of a CID reactor increased with the decrease of the initial CO concentration and the increase of the length of catalyst beds. In addition, the operating energy consumption of CID system was lower than that of CAD system.     

Experimental Investigation of Plasma Oxidization of Diesel Particulate Matter

Particulate matter (PM) from diesel vehicles is harmful to humans and should be removed from the exhaust gases before its emission into the atmosphere. Plasma PM oxidation is an advanced method to be used for oxidative PM removal. Factors influencing plasma PM oxidation include gas temperature, gas composition, PM amount, the geometry of plasma reactors. The PM oxidation in atmospheric air discharges was carried out using a pulsed dielectric barrier discharge reactor at temperatures of 100, 150, and 200 °C. It was found that PM is oxidized to CO and CO₂. CO₂/CO concentration ratio is a function of PM amount in the discharge space. PM removal efficiency (PM amount oxidized per kWh energy injection) increased with increasing air temperature and PM amount in the discharge space. Water promotes PM oxidation, which suggested that oxygen atoms produced in the discharge space react with water to yield hydroxyl free radicals that are of more reactivity than oxygen atoms. The activation energy of plasma PM oxidation was kinetically calculated to be 15.4 kJ/mol.     

Biochemical properties of genetic recombinant xylanase II

An ultraviolet (UV) coil reactor was designed and used for the online sterilization of cheese whey. Its microbial destruction efficiency was compared to that of the conventionally used UV reactor. Both reactors have the same geometry (840 ml volume and 17 mm gap size) and were tested at 11 flow rates of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 50, 60, and 70 ml/min. The results obtained from this study showed that despite of its high turbidity, cheese whey could be sterilized using UV radiation if the proper reactor design and flow rate are used. The performances of the UV reactors were governed by the flow rate and the hydraulics of flow inside the reactor. The flow was laminar in both the reactors, as the Reynolds number was in the range of 1.39–20.10. The phenomenon of Dean Flow was observed in the coil reactor and the Dean number was in the range of 1.09–15.41. Dean vortices resulted in higher microbial destruction efficiency in the coil reactor in a shorter retention time. The rate of microbial destruction was found to be exponential in the conventional reactor and polynomial in the coil reactor. Increasing the flow rate from 5 ml/min to 70 ml/min decreased the microbial destruction efficiency of the conventional reactor from 99.40 to 31.58%, while the microbial destruction efficiency in the coil reactor increased from 60.77% at the flow rate of 5 ml/min to 99.98% at the flow rate of 30 ml/min and then decreased with further increases in flow rate reaching 46.2% at the flow rate of 70 ml/min. The maximum effluent temperatures in the conventional and coil reactors were 45.8 and 46.1°C, respectively. Fouling in the coil reactor was significantly less compared to the conventional reactor. The extent of fouling was influenced by flow rate and reactor’s hydraulics.     

Simultaneous Removal of Nitrogen Oxides and Particulate Matters from Diesel Engine Exhaust using Dielectric Barrier Discharge and Catalysis Hybrid System

Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) and catalysis hybrid process was used to remove nitrogen oxides and particulate matters from diesel engine exhaust. The DBD reactor converts a part of NO into NO₂, and then the exhaust gas containing the mixture of NO and NO₂ enters the catalytic reactor where both NO and NO₂ are reduced to N₂. The effect of energy density (power input divided by gas flow rate) and reaction temperature on the removal of nitrogen oxides was investigated with a stationary diesel engine. The hybrid process was able to remove about 80% of the initial nitrogen oxides at an energy density of 25 J/L and 150°C. The removal of particulate matters did not largely depend on the electrode structure, but it was a strong function of the energy density. On the basis of 80% removal efficiency, the energy yield for nitrogen oxides was 40 eV/molecule while that for particulate matters was 83 kJ/mg. The present study suggests that this kind of hybrid process can be applied to simultaneous removal of nitrogen oxides and particulate matters from diesel engine exhausts.     

Visualization of In Situ Oxidation Process Between Plasma and Liquid Phase in Two Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Reactors Using Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence Technique

Cold atmospheric plasma is considered to be a promising approach for decontamination purposes, e.g. dyeing water decoloration. In order to better understand the complex mechanism of the plasma physics coupled with the plasma chemistry involved in the interaction of the polluted water with the discharge plasma, a novel approach was proposed to study the in situ oxidation process between the plasma and liquid phase in two dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma reactors with different bottom shape (concave vs. plane), by using the planar laser induced fluorescence technique to visualize the process dynamics. Rhodamine B was employed as the tracer dye, which was gradually decomposed by the combined effect of the chemically active radicals (OH, O, H₂O₂, etc.) as well as the intense UV radiation in the DBD plasma process. The results showed that the DBD plasma filaments induced certain fluctuation on the Rhodamine B liquid layer, which accordingly intensified the mass transfer to a large extent thus accelerated the oxidation process. The comparison of the measured concentration fields in the two DBD plasma reactors illustrated that the DBD reactor #1 with concave bottom showed higher oxidation efficiency than the DBD reactor #2 with plane bottom. Additionally, the experiments demonstrated that the oxidation efficiency in the DBD plasma water treatment was much better than that in the reactor with pure oxidation by ozone gas, which can be further improved by injecting the additional oxygen gas bubbles into the liquid phase in the plasma reactor.     

非平衡等离子体放电模式及反应器结构对氨气分解制氢的影响

在常压下研究了不同等离子体放电模式及反应器结构对氨分解制氢反应的影响.实验中调节反应器结构分别产生了介质阻挡放电和交流弧放电两种放电模式.通过对两种放电模式的放电图像、电压-电流波形和氨分解过程中等离子体区活性物种的发射光谱(OES)研究发现,与介质阻挡放电相比,交流弧放电为局部强放电,具有更高的电源效率和电子密度.因此,在介质阻挡放电中氨气分子大部分通过生成电子激发态物种NH3*,再与载能电子碰撞断裂N―H键进行氨分解反应;而在交流弧放电中载能电子具有更高的平均电子能量,可直接断裂氨气分子的N―H键生成NH2和NH等高活性物种,促进氨分解反应的进行.结果表明,交流弧放电的氨分解效果要明显优于介质阻挡放电.在交流弧放电模式下不同类型反应器对氨气分解转化率由高到低的顺序为:管-管管-板针-板板-板.在输入功率为30 W,气隙间距为6 mm时,管-管交流弧放电的氨气转化率达到60%左右,而板-板介质阻挡放电的氨气转化率仅为4%.     

The Dependence of Gliding Arc Gas Discharge Characteristics on Reactor Geometrical Configuration

The dependence of gliding arc gas discharge characteristics, including gas flow field, arc column motion and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) decomposition performance, on reactor configuration parameters was investigated based on numerical simulation and laboratory experimental findings. For a given supply voltage (10 kV) and a certain nozzle outlet diameter (1.5 mm), increasing the electrodes gap (1–4 mm) or decreasing vertical distance between electrode throat and nozzle outlet (25–10 mm) will increase the gas flow rate through the electrode throat, the gas velocity in the plasma region, the arc column velocity, the maximum attainable position of the arc column and the electrical power consumption, also, higher VOCs decomposition rate and lower specific energy requirement are observed according to the n-butane and toluene decomposition experiments.     

Study of SO2 Removal Using Non-thermal Plasma Induced by Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD)

Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) non-thermal plasma reactors built with three different dielectric materials for SO₂ removal were studied. The discharge characteristics of the three dielectrics, namely glass, Teflon, and glass fiber-based epoxy resin, were analyzed using Lissajous figures. From the Lissajous figures, the transition charge and energy deposition for each dielectric material were determined. When both the discharge characteristics and mechanical processability were considered, glass fiber-based epoxy resin was regarded as the best dielectric barrier among the three for DBD plasma reactors. A multi-cell DBD reactor built with glass fiber-based epoxy resin was used for treating air stream containing SO₂. SO₂ % removal decreased with increasing initial SO₂ concentration in a biphasic fashion. SO₂ removal was greatly improved by adding NH₃ into the air stream. Raising the relative humidity of the air stream also helped SO₂ removal. A SEM (scanning electron microscope) test illustrated some changes in surface morphology of Teflon and glass fiber-based epoxy resin.     

介质阻挡放电与 CuZSM-5 结合方式对脱除 NOx 的影响

 研究了介质阻挡放电 (DBD) 与 CuZSM-5 结合方式, 即 DBD 和 CuZSM-5 两段分置 (两段法) 或将 CuZSM-5 放入 DBD 区 (一段法), 对脱除氮氧化物的影响. 结果表明, 在 NO/N2 或 NO/C2H4/N2 无氧体系中, DBD 与 CuZSM-5 结合产生的协同效应很小; 在 NO/O2/N2 富氧体系中, DBD 与 CuZSM-5 结合导致氮氧化物转化率下降; 而在 NO/C2H4/O2 /N2 富氧体系中, 在 250 ºC, 空速 12 000 h1, 输入放电能量密度 (Ein) 155 J/L 的条件下, 单纯催化、单纯等离子体放电、一段法和两段法时氮氧化物转化率分别为 39%, 1.5%, 79% 和 52%. 两段法产生了中等程度的协同效应, 主要是第一段等离子体放电产生新稳态物种 (如 NO2, CO 和 CO2 等) 起作用; 而一段法产生的协同效应较大, 主要是由于等离子体放电产生的新稳态物种和激发态短寿命物种 (如 N2*, NO*, CH 和 CN 等) 共同起作用.     

Removal of Carbon Disulfide from Gas Streams Using Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Coupled with MnO2 Catalysis System

The removal of gaseous carbon disulfide (CS₂) via dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) combined with MnO₂ catalysis has been investigated. CS₂ removal and energy yield (EY) had been examined as a function of catalyzer position in DBD reactor, initial CS₂ concentration, input power, and gas residence time. The results showed that DBD combined with MnO₂ catalyst can improve the CS₂ energy and removal efficiency, and MnO₂ catalyst placed in afterglow area can enhance the CS₂ removal efficiency by about 10 % as compared with DBD treatment only. When increasing initial CS₂ concentration and flow rate, a higher EY is obtained. The possible CS₂ removal pathways by DBD combined with MnO₂ were proposed based on the product identification by FT-IR.     

Decomposition of Toluene and Acetone in Packed Dielectric Barrier Discharge Reactors

The influences of TiO₂ catalytic material and glass pellet packing on the decomposition efficiency of toluene and acetone in air by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactors were experimentally investigated in this study. The effects of both packing materials on the formation of byproducts such as CO and CO₂ were also evaluated. Experimental results indicate that the introduction of glass materials into the plasma zone of a wire-tube reactor would improve the decomposition efficiency of toluene and acetone compared to a nonpacked reactor. The apparent decomposition rate constant of a glass packed-bed reactor was 4.5–4.8 times greater than that of a nonpacked reactor. The results also indicate that the decomposition rate constant of toluene was approximately 2.6 times higher than that of acetone no matter which type reactor was utilized. The application of TiO₂ coated pellets in DBD reactors will enforce the hydrocarbon byproducts to further be oxidized to CO₂, notwithstanding, it will not significantly improve the performance of the reactors in the decomposition of toluene and acetone, and in the formation of CO. The results show that the best selectivity of CO₂ for acetone decomposition in a TiO₂ coated pellets packed-bed reactor was approximately 40% higher than that in a glass packed-bed reactor.     

The Effect of Oxygen and Water Vapor on Nitric Oxide Conversion with a Dielectric Barrier Discharge Reactor

The effect of O₂ and H₂O vapor on the Nitric oxide (NO) removal rate, the NO₂ generation rate and the discharge characteristics were investigated using the dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor at 1 atm pressure and at room temperature (20°). The results showed that the O₂ present in the flue gas always hampered the removal of NO and the generation of N₂O, but that the O₂ could enhance the generation of NO₂ in the NO/N₂/O₂ mixtures. Furthermore, with the increase of oxygen, the average discharge current gradually decreases in the reactor. The H₂O present in N₂/NO hindered the removal of NO and the generation of NO₂ but had no impact on the average discharge current in the reactor in the NO/N₂/H₂O mixtures in which the HNO₂ and HNO₃ was detected. The energy efficiency of the DBD used to remove the NO from the flue gas was also estimated.     

Degradation of Phenol in Aqueous Solutions by Gas–Liquid Gliding Arc Discharges

The efficiency of a gliding arc reactor designed with the aim to degrade aqueous phenol solutions is studied as a function of supply voltage, electrode gap distance, and gas–liquid flow properties. This efficiency, which steeply increases when increasing the supply voltage, can reach 96% when the minimum electrode distance is fixed at 3 mm. Experiments show that phenol degradation efficiency also depends on solution pH, Fe²⁺ addition, gas nature and gas flow rate. Furthermore, degradation pathways of phenol in aqueous solutions are proposed.     

Destruction of Styrene in an Air Stream by Packed Dielectric Barrier Discharge Reactors

This study presents the decomposition rates of styrene vapors with non-packed and packed bed dielectric barrier discharge reactors. The concentrations of intermediate byproducts at various plasma operation conditions were evaluated. The results showed that although styrene vapors could be almost completely removed at low styrene inlet concentration of 132 ppm, the selectivity of CO₂ as the major product was rather low in a non-packed bed reactor. It was found that solid carbon containing compound was the major byproduct. An increase in the styrene inlet concentration tended to reduce the styrene removal efficiency, it also led to increase in the solid byproduct. The reactors that packed with glass, Al₂O₃ or Pt–Pd /Al₂O₃ pellets could improve the styrene decomposition efficiency and reduce the formation of intermediate products, of which the best oxidation of styrene to CO₂ could be achieved with a Pt–Pd /Al₂O₃ packed bed reactor. The carbon byproducts could also be reduced if the rector length was increased. The concentrations of ozone formed during the plasma process were also evaluated for the non-packed and packed bed reactors. The plasma reactor that packed with Pt–Pd /Al₂O₃ pellets was proved to have the lowest O₃ concentration.     

Investigation of the Atmospheric Helium Dielectric Barrier Discharge Driven by a Realistic Distorted-Sinusoidal Voltage Power Source

The non-equilibrium atmospheric-pressure parallel-plate helium dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) driven by a realistic 20 kHz distorted-sinusoidal voltage waveform has been investigated by means of simulations and experiments. A self-consistent one-dimensional fluid modeling code considering the non-local electron energy balance was applied to simulate the helium DBD. The effect of selecting plasma chemistry was investigated by comparing simulations with experiments. The results show that the simulations, which include more excited helium, metastable helium and electron–ion-related reaction channels, can faithfully reproduce the measured discharged temporal current quantitatively. Based on the simulated discharge properties, we have found that there is complicated mode transition of discharges from the long Townsend-like to the “dark current”-like, then to the short primary Townsend-like and the short secondary Townsend-like for the helium DBD that is driven by a realistic distorted-sinusoidal voltage power source. Discharge properties in different periods of discharge are discussed in detail in the paper.     

Removal properties of diesel exhaust particles by a dielectric barrier discharge reactor

The removal properties of diesel exhaust particles (DEP) were investigated using an engine exhaust particle size spectrometer (EEPS), field emission-type scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS). DEP were treated using a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor installed in the tail pipe of a diesel engine, and a model DBD reactor fed with DEP in the mixture of N(2) and O(2). When changing the experimental parameters of both the plasma conditions and the engine load conditions, we obtained characteristic information of DEP treated with plasma discharges from the particle diameter and the composition. In evaluating the model DBD reactor, it became clear that there were two types of plasma processes (reactions with active oxygen species to yield CO(2) and reactions with active nitrogen species to yield nitrogen containing compounds). Moreover, from the result of a TOF-SIMS analysis, the characteristic secondary ions, such as C(2)H(6)N(+), C(4)H(12)N(+), and C(10)H(20)N(2)(+), were strongly detected from the DEP surfaces during the plasma discharges. This indicates that the nitrogen contained hydrocarbons were generated by plasma reactions.     

A Novel Dielectric-Barrier-Discharge Loop Reactor for Cyanide Water Treatment

A novel dielectric-barrier-discharge (DBD) loop reactor was designed for the efficient degradation of cyanide anion (CN^?) in water. The circulation of cyanide water as a falling film through plasma gas discharge zone enhanced gas–liquid mass and energy transfer and induced formation of H₂O₂ which was associated with the efficient destruction of CN^?. It was observed that among different discharge gases, the CN^? degradation rate decreased in the order of Ar > air > H₂/air mixture. Depending on discharge voltage, the treatment time for complete removal of 100 ppm CN^? in this DBD loop reactor is in the range 120–300 min. The dose of Cu²⁺ catalyst in combination with in situ production of H₂O₂ enhanced the destruction of CN^? apparently in this DBD loop reactor. The treatment time for complete degradation of 100 ppm CN^? decreased from 180 min with Ar DBD discharge alone to 40 min with 40 mg/L dose of Cu²⁺ ion in water, making it an efficient means to degrade cyanide water.     

Ethylene Epoxidation in Low-Temperature AC Dielectric Barrier Discharge: Effect of Electrode Geometry

In this work, the epoxidation of ethylene under a cylindrical dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor and a parallel DBD reactor was comparatively studied. The effects of important operating parameters—feed O₂/C₂H₄ molar ratio, applied voltage, input frequency, and residence time—were investigated on the reaction performance in terms of reactant conversions, product selectivities, product yields, and power consumptions per molecule of ethylene converted and per molecule of ethylene oxide produced. The optimum conditions obtained from the operating parameter investigation were used for a comparative performance evaluation of both DBD reactor systems. It was found that under the optimum conditions of each system, the cylindrical DBD system exhibited superior epoxidation performance for ethylene oxide production compared to the parallel DBD system, indicating that the electrode geometry (electrode edge length-to-electrode surface area ratio) plays a significant role in the ethylene epoxidation.     

Water splitting in low-temperature ac plasmas at atmospheric pressure

Plasma-induced water splitting at atmospheric pressure has been studied with a novel fan-type Pt reactor and several tubular-type reactors: an all-quartz reactor, a glass reactor, and three metal reactors with Pt. Ni, and Fe as electrodes. Reaction products have been analyzed by using GC (gas chromatography) and Q-MS (quadrupole mass spectrometry). Optical emission spectroscopic studies of the process have been carried out by employing a CCD (charge-coupled device) detector. Water splitting with tubular quartz and glass reactors is probably non-catalytic. However, a heterogeneous catalytic function of surface of metal electrodes has been observed. The variation of hydrogen yield (Y_H) and energy efficiency (E_e) with operational parameters such as input voltages (U_in), flow rates of carrier gas (F_He), and concentrations of water (C_W) has been examined. Plasma-induced water splitting can be described with a kinetic equation of-dC_w/dt = kC_W ^0.2. The rate constants at 3.25 kV are 2.8 × 10⁻⁴, 3.5 × 10⁻³, and 3.4 × 10⁻² mol^0.8L^−0.8 min⁻¹ for tubular glass reactor, a tubular Pt reactor, and a fan-type Pt reactor, respectively. A CSTR (continuous-stirred tank reactor) and PFR (piston-flow reactor) model have been applied to a fan-type reactor and tubular reactor, respectively. A mechanism on the basis of optical emission spectroscopic data has been obtained comprising the energy transfer from excited carrier gas species to water molecules, which split via radicals of HO^·, O^·, and H^· to form H₂ and O₂. The fan-type Pt reactors exhibit highest activity and energy efficiency among the reactors tested. Higher yields of hydrogen are achieved at higher input voltages, low flow rates, and low concentrations of water (Y_H = 78 % at U_in of 3.75 kV, F_He of 20 mL/min, and C_W of 0.86 %). The energy efficiency exhibits an opposite trend (E_e = 6.1 % at U_in of 1.25 kV, F_He of 60 mL/min and C_W of 3.1 %).