Treatment of hazardous organic wastes using silent discharge plasmas
During the past two decades, interest in applying non-equilibrium plasmas to the removal of hazardous chemicals from gaseous media has been growing, in particular from heightened concerns over the pollution of our environment and a growing body of environmental regulations. At the Los Alamos National Laboratory, we are currently engaged in a project to develop non-equilibrium plasma technology for hazardous waste treatment. Our present focus is on dielectric-barrier discharges, which are historically called silent electrical discharges. This type of plasma is also named a silent discharge plasma (SDP). We have chosen this method due to its potential for high energy efficiency, its scientific and technological maturity, and its scalability. The SDP process has been demonstrated to be reliable and economical for the industrial-scale synthesis of ozone, where municipal water treatment plants frequently require the on-site generation of thousands of kilograins per day (Eliasson & Kogelschatz). The related methods of corona processing are presently the focus of work at other institutions, particularly for flue gas processing. Both SDP and corona processes are characterized by the production of large quantities of highly reactive free radicals, especially atomic oxygen O(3P) and the hydroxyl OH, in the gaseous medium and their subsequent reaction with contaminants. Our primary objective is to convert hazardous or toxic chemicals into non-hazardous compounds or into materials which are more amenable to treatment. In the ideal case, the hazardous wastes are destructively oxidized to simpler, non-hazardous compounds plus CO2 and H2O. Sometimes the reaction products are still potentially hazardous, but are easily treated by conventional methods to yield non-hazardous products.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 10108020
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-92-3554; CONF-920967-1; ON: DE93003789
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Advanced research workshop on non-thermal plasma techniques for pollution control,Cambridge (United Kingdom),21-25 Sep 1992; Other Information: PBD: [1992]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
ORGANIC WASTES
WASTE PROCESSING
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
ELECTRIC DISCHARGES
USES
CORONA DISCHARGES
POLLUTION CONTROL
REMOVAL
PLASMA
CHEMICAL REACTION KINETICS
WATER
CARBON DIOXIDE
GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY
GAS ANALYSIS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
RADICALS
540120
320305
CHEMICALS MONITORING AND TRANSPORT
INDUSTRIAL WASTE MANAGEMENT