Oxidation of propene and the formation of methyl nitrate in non-thermal plasma discharges

Effluents from MBT plants: plasma techniques for the treatment of VOCs

Mechanical-biological treatments (MBTs) of urban waste are growing in popularity in many European countries. Recent studies pointed out that their contribution in terms of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other air pollutants is not negligible. Compared to classical removal technologies, non-thermal plasmas (NTP) showed better performances and low energy consumption when applied to treat lowly concentrated streams. Therefore, to study the feasibility of the application of NTP to MBTs, a Dielectric Barrier Discharge reactor was applied to treat a mixture of air and methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), to simulate emissions from MBTs. The removal efficiency of MEK was linearly dependent upon time, power and specific input energy. Only 2-4% of MEK was converted to carbon dioxide (CO2), the remaining carbon being involved in the formation of byproducts (methyl nitrate and 2,3-butanedione, especially). For future development of pilot-scale reactors, acting on residence time, power, convective flow and catalysts will help finding a compromise between energy consumption, desired abatement and selectivity to CO2.

Non-thermal plasmas for non-catalytic and catalytic VOC abatement

This paper reviews recent achievements and the current status of non-thermal plasma (NTP) technology for the abatement of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Many reactor configurations have been developed to generate a NTP at atmospheric pressure. Therefore in this review article, the principles of generating NTPs are outlined. Further on, this paper is divided in two equally important parts: plasma-alone and plasma-catalytic systems. Combination of NTP with heterogeneous catalysis has attracted increased attention in order to overcome the weaknesses of plasma-alone systems. An overview is given of the present understanding of the mechanisms involved in plasma-catalytic processes. In both parts (plasma-alone systems and plasma-catalysis), literature on the abatement of VOCs is reviewed in close detail. Special attention is given to the influence of critical process parameters on the removal process.