Novel Catalytic Non-thermal Plasma Reactor for the Destruction of Volatile Organic Compounds

A novel dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor has been designed as catalytic non-thermal plasma (NTP) reactor. It was tested for the abatement of diluted volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of different nature. The novelty of the DBD reactor is that a metallic catalyst made of sintered metal fibers (SMF) also acts as the inner electrode. The SMF electrodes modified with oxides of Ti, Mn and Co were efficient during the destruction of selected VOCs of different nature like toluene, isopropanol (IPA) and trichloroethylene (TCE). It has been observed that at a fixed concentration of VOC, total oxidation of IPA was achieved at lower specific input energy (SIE) compared to toluene and TCE. Among the catalysts studied, MnOx/SMF showed the best performance, probably due to the formation of active oxygen species by in-situ decomposition of ozone on the catalyst surface. The SMF electrode modified with MnOx and TiO2 catalyst effectively destroys TCE due to the synergy between plasma excitation of the TCE molecules and their catalytic oxidation. The latter process was further enhanced by photocatalysis, since TiO2 absorbs the UV light produced by the NTP.