The use of barrier discharges for pollution control

This paper reports on work carried out at Colt International, the aim of which is to investigate cold oxidation techniques for pollution control using dielectric barrier discharges (DBD). The principle of the DBD has been well reported and so only a brief description is given here. The DBD usually comprises two electrodes, at least one of which is covered with a dielectric material. They are separated by an air-gap of a few millimetres through which the influent air stream passes. When a voltage is applied across these electrodes, the gas initially acts as an insulator and the electrodes present a capacitive load to the power supply. As the voltage increases, electrons gain enough energy from the electric field to ionise molecules in the air and produce an avalanche or micro-discharge