Destruction of residual fumigant using a plasma reactor

Methyl bromide is amply used as a fumigant for soil conditioning in greenhouses, as well as for storage grain conditioning. The treatment is carried out in a confined place, and after treatment the residual gas is vented to the atmosphere. Despite this gas being very toxic, it does not result in harm to human beings because it is vented in open places. However, it is harmful to the atmosphere because its reaction with high-energy photons in the stratosphere reduces the ozone concentration. Therefore, the present investigation is concerned with the study of the feasibility for destruction of the residual fumigant. One of the nonthermal plasma techniques, a packed-bed ferroelectric reactor, was applied for destruction of mixtures of methyl bromide in nitrogen or air. The performance of the process was studied by analyzing the influence and effect of the operating variables on the process efficiency. The results obtained showed the residence time and the applied voltage as the most significant variables. When nitrogen is employed as the carrier gas destruction efficiencies as high as 80% are obtained.