Decomposition of benzene using adsorbent-hybrid plasma reactor

In order to investigate the effect of an adsorbent and metal ions under plasma discharge, plasma reactors packed with a mixture of BaTiO/sub 3/ pellets and porous Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ pellets (alumina-hybrid reactor) and with a mixture of BaTiO/sub 3/ pellets and metal supported Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ pellets (catalyst-hybrid reactor) were examined for the oxidation of dilute benzene in air. It was found that the oxidative decomposition of benzene was enhanced by concentrating benzene on the Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ pellets and the catalyst pellets. Furthermore, selectivity to CO/sub 2/ in the products from the alumina-hybrid reactor and the catalyst-hybrid reactors was higher than that from the plasma reactor packed with BaTiO/sub 3/ pellets alone. In particular; selectivity to CO/sub 2/ from the catalyst-hybrid reactors using Ag, Co, Cu and Ni/Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ was higher than that from the alumina-hybrid reactor. In addition, the presence of the alumina and catalysts suppressed the formation of N/sub 2/O.