Destruction of volatile organic compounds in air by a superimposed barrier discharge plasma reactor and activated carbon filter hybrid system

The superimposed barrier discharge and activated carbon filter hybrid systems are used to remove toluene and trichloro-ethylene (TCE) from air streams. The superimposed barrier discharge consists of silent and surface discharges. Experiments are conducted for the gas flow rate from 1 to 10 L/min., applied power from 0 to 7 W and toluene and TCE initial concentration from 0 to 2,000 ppm for 60 Hz AC applied voltage conditions. Discharge byproducts are measured by FTIR, GC and TLV VOC detector. The results shows that: (1) toluene decomposition rate monotonically increases with increasing applied power; (2) approximately 90% of toluene is removed by plasma reactors alone and up to 98% is removed by hybrid systems; (3) TCE removal rate by hybrid system is 90% and up to 50% is removed by a discharge reactor alone; (4) the pressure drop of the reactor and carbon filter increase with increasing gas flow rate; (5) TCE decomposition to form CO₂, H₂O and Cl₂ and except CO₂ and H₂O these discharge byproducts are absorbed in activated carbon filters; (6) no COCl₂, HCl, CO, NO_x and O₃ are observed in a discharge byproducts for the present range of experiments; and (7) the energy yield for toluene decompositions is up to 30 g/kWh, and up to 15 g/kWh for TCE decompositions