Decomposition of benzene by non-thermal plasma processing: Photocatalyst and ozone effect

Plasma technology has some shortcomings, such as higher energy consumption and byproducts produced in the reaction process. However non-thermal plasma associated with catalyst can resolve these problems. Therefore this kind of technology was paied more and more attention to treat waste gas. A hybrid system comprising a non-thermal plasma reactor and nanometer titanium dioxide catalyst was used for benzene removal in the air. The paper described the synergistic effect of ozone and photocatalyst in the plasma reactor. Except of electric field strength, humidity and flow velocity, the synergistic behavior of ozone and photocatalyst was tested. The removal efficiency of benzene reaches nearly 99% when benzene concentration is 600 mg/m³, and the removal efficiency of benzene also reaches above 90% when benzene concentration is 1500 mg/m³. The plasma reactor packed with photocatalyst shows a better selectivity of carbon dioxide than that without photocatalyst. The final products is mostly carbon dioxide, water and a small quantity of carbon monoxide.

Keywords
Synergistic effect, removal efficiency, non-thermal plasma, selectivity of carbon dioxide