Catalytic Effect on Toluene Removal by Non-Thermal Plasma Technology

Laboratory-scale experiments were performed to evaluate the efficiency of toluene decomposition by using a non-thermal plasma reactor at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. Four kinds of metal oxides, i.e., copper oxide, iron oxide, cobalt oxide and manganese oxide, supported on Al₂O₃/nickel foam were used as catalysts. The promotion performance of different catalysts under plasma discharge was compared, including toluene removal efficiency, carbon dioxide selectivity and ozone concentration. It was found that the combination of non-thermal plasma and metal oxide catalyst could improve the toluene removal efficiency and carbon dioxide selectivity, but suppress byproduct (such as ozone) formation. The sequence on toluene removal for different active metal oxide components in the catalysts was iron oxide catalyst>copper oxide catalyst>manganese oxide catalyst >cobalt oxide catalyst.