Plasma-assisted decomposition of methanol and trichloroethylene in atmospheric pressure air streams by electrical discharge processing
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, Livermore, California 94550 (United States)
Experiments are presented on the plasma-assisted decomposition of dilute concentrations of methanol and trichloroethylene in atmospheric pressure air streams by electrical discharge processing. This investigation used two types of discharge reactors, a dielectric-barrier and a pulsed corona discharge reactor, to study the effects of gas temperature and electrical energy input on the decomposition chemistry and byproduct formation. Our experimental data on both methanol and trichloroethylene show that, under identical gas conditions, the type of electrical discharge reactor does not affect the energy requirements for decomposition or byproduct formation. Our experiments on methanol show that discharge processing converts methanol to CO{sub {ital x}} with an energy yield that increases with temperature. In contrast to the results from methanol, CO{sub {ital x}} is only a minor product in the decomposition of trichloroethylene. In addition, higher temperatures decrease the energy yield for trichloroethylene. This effect may be due to increased competition from decomposition of the byproducts dichloroacetyl chloride and phosgene. In all cases plasma processing using an electrical discharge device produces CO preferentially over CO{sub 2}.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 90474
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 78; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Decomposition of dilute trichloroethylene by nonthermal plasma
Byproduct identification and mechanism determination in plasma chemical decomposition of trichloroethylene