Chemical Reactivity of Discharges and Temporal Post-Discharges in Plasma Treatment of Aqueous Media: Examples of Gliding Discharge Treated Solutions

Egg-derived porous plasma modified clay composite for wastewater remediation

Clays are often envisaged as an alternative to activated carbon for wastewater pollutant adsorption. However, conclusive results have only been obtained for clays heavily chemically modified. In this study, a greener approach is proposed to improve the retention capacity of clays. It consists in mixing clay (C) with eggshell (ES) and calcine, and then exposing to gliding arc plasma (ESC-800/PL). The resulting materials were characterized by nitrogen physisorption, FTIR, XRD, TGA/DTG, and point of zero charge analyses. The preparation gives porous platelet agglomerates resulting from the kaolinite-metakaolinite transition, thereby increasing their internal specific surface area and capacity to retain pollutants. This granular distribution is kept stable by partial pozzolanic reactions avoiding deagglomeration. The specific surface area and total pore volume increased respectively from 14 m² g^-1 and 0.049 cm³ g^-1 to 89 m² g^-1 and 0.061 cm³ g^-1 leading to an enhanced removal efficiency of Fast Green and Orange G dyes from polluted water. The maximum adsorption capacity occurred at 298 K attaining values of 32.34 and 14.78 mg g^-1 for OG and FG, respectively. The pH plays a crucial role in the maximum sorption of dyes, and the experimental data were successfully adjusted to pseudo-first-order kinetic and Liu isotherm model.

Tetracycline degradation by nonthermal plasma: removal efficiency, degradation pathway, and toxicity evaluation

Tetracyclines (TCs) are often discussed as one of the emerging contaminants detected in water matrices and studied for their persistence towards conventional water treatment technologies. In this work, the treatment of TC in aqueous solutions with nonthermal plasma gliding arc process was investigated. The degradation efficiency of TC was studied along with the effect of initial concentration, working gas, pH, and the presence of a radical scavenger. The generation of reactive oxidative species was characterized by the quantification of radical hydroxyl, hydrogen peroxide, ozone, nitrite, and nitrate. Mineralization efficiency was examined by assessment of Total organic carbon evolution. Experimental results have shown that the gliding arc plasma is effective for the treatment of TC. At an initial concentration of 5 mg/L: degradation rates of 94.95% and 60.45% were achieved, while mineralization rates were 81.3% and 57.34% under O₂ and air plasma, respectively. O₂ plasma exhibited an immense potential for the generation of reactive oxygen species. Meanwhile, air plasma showed better degradation performance in the presence of a radical scavenger. Moreover, degradation products were identified by mass spectroscopy analysis and degradation pathway was proposed. The gliding arc process proposed in this work is promising for the removal of TC antibiotics.

Mechanistic Insight into Permeation of Plasma-Generated Species from Vacuum into Water Bulk

Due to their potential benefits, cold atmospheric plasmas (CAPs), as biotechnological tools, have been used for various purposes, especially in medical and agricultural applications. The main effect of CAP is associated with reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS). In order to deliver these RONS to the target, direct or indirect treatment approaches have been employed. The indirect method is put into practice via plasma-activated water (PAW). Despite many studies being available in the field, the permeation mechanisms of RONS into water at the molecular level still remain elusive. Here, we performed molecular dynamics simulations to study the permeation of RONS from vacuum into the water interface and bulk. The calculated free energy profiles unravel the most favourable accumulation positions of RONS. Our results, therefore, provide fundamental insights into PAW and RONS chemistry to increase the efficiency of PAW in biological applications.

Toxicity Assessment of Long-Term Exposure to Non-Thermal Plasma Activated Water in Mice

Non-thermal plasma activated water (PAW) has recently emerged as a powerful antimicrobial agent. Despite numerous potential bio-medical applications, studies concerning toxicity in live animals, especially after long-term exposure, are scarce. Our study aimed to assess the effects of long-term watering with PAW on the health of CD1 mice. PAW was prepared from distilled water with a GlidArc reactor according to a previously published protocol. The pH was 2.78. The mice received PAW (experimental group) or tap water (control group) daily for 90 days as the sole water source. After 90 days, the following investigations were performed on the euthanatized animals: gross necropsy, teeth mineral composition, histopathology, immunohistochemistry, hematology, blood biochemistry, methemoglobin level and cytokine profile. Mice tolerated PAW very well and no adverse effects were observed during the entire period of the experiment. Histopathological examination of the organs and tissues did not reveal any structural changes. Moreover, the expression of proliferation markers PCNA and Ki67 has not been identified in the epithelium of the upper digestive tract, indicating the absence of any pre- or neoplastic transformations. The results of our study demonstrated that long-term exposure to PAW caused no toxic effects and could be used as oral antiseptic solution in dental medicine.

A review on non-thermal plasma treatment of water contaminated with antibiotics

Large amounts of antibiotics are produced and consumed worldwide, while wastewater treatment is still rather inefficient, leading to considerable water contamination. Concentrations of antibiotics in the environment are often sufficiently high to exert a selective pressure on bacteria of clinical importance that increases the prevalence of resistance. Since the drastic reduction in the use of antibiotics is not envisaged, efforts to reduce their input into the environment by improving treatment of contaminated wastewater is essential to limit uncontrollable spread of antibiotic resistance. This paper reviews recent progress on the use of non-thermal plasma for the degradation of antibiotics in water. The target compounds removal, the energy efficiency and the mineralization are analyzed as a function of discharge configuration and the most important experimental parameters. Various ways to improve the plasma process efficiency are addressed. Based on the identified reaction intermediates, degradation pathways are proposed for various classes of antibiotics and the degradation mechanisms of these chemicals under plasma conditions are discussed.

Removal of metal ions from water using oxygen plasma

Zinc ion dissolved in water is attempted to be removed by generating the oxides of zinc using the oxygen gas in dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma system. The removal rate of zinc oxides’ production (ZnO and Zn(OH)₂) are measured at different treatment periods by the oxygen plasma penetration in water. The removal rate of the deposit increases initially and then decreases with the treatment period. The maximum removal rate (29%) of zinc ion from water is achieved at the treatment period of 10 min, where pH is lower (7.4). From FTIR the generation properties of zinc oxide can be recognized. Initially the amount of the deposit increases with the ozone treatment period due to production of both ZnO and Zn(OH)₂. After that, the production of Zn(OH)₄^2- increases even when the total removal rate of the deposit decreases. Therefore, to remove zinc ion from water forming metal oxide deposit, the penetration amount of the active oxygens to the water must be controlled to keep the pH lower than around 7.5. Because with increasing pH amount of removal rate of zinc oxides’ deposit decreases. The pH of the zinc dissolved water treated by ozone depends on both zinc ion and ozone concentration in water.

Reduction of sludge formed during a coagulation treatment of Ridomil Gold by means of non-thermal quenched plasma pre-treatment

Chemical coagulation and adsorption, despite many drawbacks, are actually the main techniques used for the removal of pollutants from aqueous solution; however, these techniques are becoming ineffective due to the exponential increase in the amount and complexity of discharged pollutants; thus, the sludge treatment process became a more complex challenge. The present study focuses on the way to reduce the quantity of sludge formed during the removal of Ridomil Gold, a widely used pesticide-fungicide in agriculture. Results revealed that pre-treatment of initial waste solution by the gliding arc (Glidarc), a source of non-thermal plasma, leads to a significant reduction of the sludge formed during the coagulation treatment. For a 20-min pre-treated effluent Glidarc followed by chemical coagulation, there was a reduction in the volume of sludge formed in the order of 90 and 80% for alum and ferric sulfate coagulants respectively without reducing the performance of pesticide removal. Therefore, there is a positive synergism between treatment by chemical coagulation and plasma treatment. These results suggest that the Glidarc can be an effective solution for the reduction of sludge obtained during treatment by coagulation.

Enhancement of sorption capacity of cocoa shell biomass modified with non-thermal plasma for removal of both cationic and anionic dyes from aqueous solution

Removal of cationic dye, Azur II, and anionic dye, Reactive Red 2 (RR-2) from aqueous solutions, has been successfully achieved by using a modified agricultural biomaterial waste: cocoa shell husk (Theobroma cacao) treated by gliding arc plasma (CPHP). The biomass in its natural form CPHN and modified form CPHP was characterized by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and point of zero charge (pH_pzc). Experimental variables such as initial pH, contact time, and temperature were optimized for adsorptive characteristics of CPHN and CPHP. The results show that the removal of the Azur II dye was favorable in the basic pH region (pH 10) while the Reactive Red 2 dye was favorable in the acidic pH region (pH 2). The minimum equilibrium time for Azur II and RR-2 dye was obtained after 40 and 240 min, respectively. The adsorption kinetics and isotherm data obtained were best described by a pseudo-second-order kinetic rate model and a combination of Langmuir-Freundlich isotherm models. This work indicates that the plasma-treated raw materials are good alternative multi-purpose sorbents for the removal of many coexisting pollutants from aqueous solutions.

Non-Thermal Plasma in Contact with Water: The Origin of Species

Non‐thermal atmospheric pressure plasma has attracted considerable attention in recent years due to its potential for biomedical applications. Determining the mechanism of the formation of reactive species in liquid treated with plasma is thus of paramount importance for both fundamental and applied research. In this work, the origin of reactive species in plasma‐treated aqueous solutions was investigated by using spin‐trapping, hydrogen and oxygen isotopic labelling and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. The species originating from molecules in the liquid phase and those introduced with the feed gas were differentiated by EPR and ¹H NMR analysis of liquid samples. The effects of water vapour and oxygen admixtures in the feed gas were investigated. All the reactive species detected in the liquid samples were shown to be formed largely in the plasma gas phase. It is suggested that hydrogen peroxide (determined by UV/Vis analysis) is formed primarily in the plasma tube, whereas the radical species ⋅OOH, ⋅OH and ⋅H are proposed to originate from the region between the plasma nozzle and the liquid sample.

Plasma-assisted electrolytic synthesis of In(OH)3 nanocubes for thermal transformation into In2O3 nanocubes with a controllable Sn content

Single-crystal In(OH)₃ nanocubes were synthesized through a novel wet-chemical route of plasma-assisted electrolytic process and further thermally transformed into polycrystalline bixbyite-type c-In₂O₃ nanocubes with a controlled Sn content.

Treatment of methyl orange by nitrogen non-thermal plasma in a corona reactor: The role of reactive nitrogen species

Methyl orange (MO) azo dye served as model organic pollutant to investigate the role of reactive nitrogen species (RNS) in non-thermal plasma (NTP) induced water treatments. The results of experiments in which MO aqueous solutions were directly exposed to N2-NTP are compared with those of control experiments in which MO was allowed to react with nitrite, nitrate and hydrogen peroxide, which are species formed in water exposed to N2-NTP. Treatment of MO was also performed in PAW, Plasma Activated Water, that is water previously exposed to N2-NTP. Both direct N2-NTP and N2-PAW treatments induced the rapid decay of MO. No appreciable reaction was instead observed when MO was treated with NO3(-) and H2O2 either under acidic or neutral pH. In contrast, in acidic solutions MO decayed rapidly when treated with NO2(-) and with a combination of NO2(-) and H2O2. Thorough product analysis was carried out by HPLC coupled with UV-vis and ESI-MS/MS detectors. In all experiments in which MO reaction was observed, the major primary product was a derivative nitro-substituted at the ortho position with respect to the N,N-dimethylamino group of MO. The reactions of RNS are discussed and a mechanism for the observed nitration products is proposed.

Investigation of the antimicrobial activity at safe levels for eukaryotic cells of a low power atmospheric pressure inductively coupled plasma source

Low power atmospheric pressure inductively coupled thermal plasma sources integrated with a quenching device (cold ICP) for the efficient production of biologically active agents have been recently developed for potential biomedical applications. In the present work, in vitro experiments aimed at assessing the decontamination potential of a cold ICP source were carried out on bacteria typically associated with chronic wounds and designed to represent a realistic wound environment; further in vitro experiments were performed to investigate the effects of plasma-irradiated physiological saline solution on eukaryotic cells viability. A thorough characterization of the plasma source and process, for what concerns ultraviolet (UV) radiation and nitric oxide production as well as the variation of pH and the generation of nitrates and nitrites in the treated liquid media, was carried out to garner fundamental insights that could help the interpretation of biological experiments. Direct plasma treatment of bacterial cells, performed at safe level of UV radiation, induces a relevant decontamination, both on agar plate and in physiological saline solution, after just 2 min of treatment. Furthermore, the indirect treatment of eukaryotic cells, carried out by covering them with physiological saline solution irradiated by plasma, in the same conditions selected for the direct treatment of bacterial cells does not show any noticeable adverse effect to their viability. Some considerations regarding the role of the UV radiation on the decontamination potential of bacterial cells and the viability of the eukaryotic ones will be presented. Moreover, the effects of pH variation, nitrate and nitrite concentrations of the plasma-irradiated physiological saline solution on the decontamination of bacterial suspension and on the viability of eukaryotic cells subjected to the indirect treatment will be discussed. The obtained results will be used to optimize the design of the ICP source for an effective production of reactive species, while keeping effluent temperature and UV radiation at values compatible with biomedical treatments.

Fabrication of boron nitride nanotube-gold nanoparticle hybrids using pulsed plasma in liquid

Plasma, generated in liquid at atmospheric pressure by a nanosecond pulsed voltage, was used to fabricate hybrid structures from boron nitride nanotubes and gold nanoparticles in deionized water. The pH was greatly reduced, conductivity was significantly increased, and concentrations of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species in the water were increased by the plasma treatment. The treatment reduced the length of the nanotubes, giving more individual cuplike structures, and introduced functional groups onto the surface. Gold nanoparticles were successively assembled onto the functionalized surfaces. The reactive species from the liquid plasma along with the nanosecond pulsed electric field seem to play a role in the shortening and functionalization of the nanotubes and the assembly of gold nanoparticles. The potential for targeted drug delivery was tested in a preliminary investigation using doxorubicin-loaded plasma-treated nanotubes which were effective at killing ∼99% of prostate cancer cells.

Assessment of a dielectric barrier discharge plasma reactor at atmospheric pressure for the removal of bisphenol A and tributyltin

The ability of a laboratory-scale dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) nonthermal plasma reactor at atmospheric pressure was assessed for the removal of bisphenol A (1 mg L(-1)) and tributyltin (10 mg L(-1)) from aqueous solutions. The elimination of both the compounds followed an exponential decay equation, and a first-order degradation kinetics was proposed for them (k = 0.662 min(-1) for bisphenol A and k = 0.800 min(-1) for tributyltin), reaching in both cases about 96% removal after 5-min treatment. Accordingly, plasma DBD reactors could be used as alternative advanced oxidation technologies for the removal of some persistent and toxic pollutants from water and wastewater, although further research should be performed to evaluate the effluent toxicity.

Degradation of palm oil refinery wastewaters by non-thermal gliding arc discharge at atmospheric pressure

The gliding electric discharge in humid air is a source of activated species forming (e.g. (•)OH, (•)NO and their derivatives H2O2, ONO2H and NO3H) which are present in a non-thermal plasma at atmospheric pressure. These species are able to degrade organic pollutants in palm oil refinery wastewaters (PORW). The increase in acidity (pH decrease), conductivity and total dissolved solids (TDS) and the decrease in the total organic carbon (TOC) of PORW samples exposed to the discharge are reported. More than 50% TOC abatement is obtained for 15 min treatment in batch conditions with a laboratory reactor. The organic pollutants of PORW, i.e. mainly fatty acids are degraded according to a pseudo first-order reaction (k* = 0.06 min(-1)). Post discharge reactions are also observed after having switched off the discharge, which suggests that the pseudo first-order (k ≈ 0.05 min(-1)) degradation reactions should be attributed to the diffusion of soluble reactive species, e.g. H2O2 and ONOOH in the liquid target.

Note: Gliding arc discharges with phase-chopped voltage supply for enhancement of energy efficiency in volatile organic compound decomposition

This note reports on a novel power supply design for gliding arc discharge with applying controlled phase-chopping on the input voltage waveform, aiming at simultaneously satisfying the decomposition efficacy and energy efficiency for volatile organic compound decomposition. With a proper control on the phase-chopping fraction, the energy efficiency can be obviously enhanced, while the decomposition efficacy is almost maintained, possibly due to the compensation from long-life radical induced decomposition during discharge intervals.

Combined effects of long-living chemical species during microbial inactivation using atmospheric plasma-treated water

Electrical discharges in humid air at atmospheric pressure (nonthermal quenched plasma) generate long-lived chemical species in water that are efficient for microbial decontamination. The major role of nitrites was evidenced together with a synergistic effect of nitrates and H(2)O(2) and matching acidification. Other possible active compounds are considered, e.g., peroxynitrous acid.

Plasma chemical degradation of phosphorous-containing warfare agents simulants

The gliding electric discharge (or "glidarc") technique is a new advanced oxidation process used for the degradation of organic solutes or spent solvents. Discharges in humid air at atmospheric pressure produce active species (i.e., .OH and .NO) that are able to oxidize organic target up to carbon oxides and water. Aqueous solutions of triethylphosphate (TEP), a warfare agent simulant, are exposed to a glidarc in humid air to evaluate the solute stability under the impinging flux of active species. TEP was degraded and the overall zero order kinetic rate (k(0)=3.4 x 10(-4)mol h(-1)) was compared with that of previously considered tributylphosphate. The total degradation of TEP is monitored by the formation of H(3)PO(4) as the ultimate oxidation product of phosphorus by total organic carbon measurements. Extra investigation was performed on dimethylmethylphosphonate to examine the potential influence of the molecule symmetry on the degradation rate.

A mass spectrometry study of alkanes in air plasma at atmospheric pressure

The positive APCI-mass spectra in air of linear (n-pentane, n-hexane, n-heptane, n-octane), branched [2,4-dimethylpentane, 2,2-dimethylpentane and 2,2,4-trimethylpentane (i-octane)], and cyclic (cyclohexane) alkanes were analyzed at different mixing ratios and temperatures. The effect of air humidity was also investigated. Complex ion chemistry is observed as a result of the interplay of several different reagent ions, including atmospheric ions O(2)(+*), NO(+), H(3)O(+), and their hydrates, but also alkyl fragment ions derived from the alkanes. Some of these reactions are known from previous selected ion/molecule reaction studies; others are so far unreported. The major ion formed from most alkanes (M) is the species [M - H](+), which is accompanied by M(+*) only in the case of n-octane. Ionic fragments of C(n)H(2n+1)(+) composition are also observed, particularly with branched alkanes: the relative abundance of such fragments with respect to that of [M - H](+) decreases with increasing concentration of M, thus suggesting that they react with M via hydride abstraction. The branched C(7) and C(8) alkanes react with NO(+) to form a C(4)H(10)NO(+) ion product, which upon collisional activation dissociates via HNO elimination. The structure of t-Bu(+)(HNO) is proposed for such species, which is reasonably formed from the original NO(+)(M) ion/molecule complex via hydride transfer and olefin elimination. Finally, linear alkanes C(5)-C(8) give a product ion corresponding to C(4)H(7)(+)(M), which we suggest is attributed to addition of [M - H](+) to C(4)H(8) olefin formed in the charge-transfer-induced fragmentation of M. The results are relevant to applications of nonthermal plasma processes in the fields of air depuration and combustion enhancement.