Removal of mixture of VOCs by nonthermal plasma

Nonthermal plasma treatment is one of the promising air-cleaning technologies to remove dilute volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in air. Present study deals with the removal of dilute VOCs mixture in a dielectric barrier discharge reactor with sintered metal fiber as the inner electrode. Electrical characterization of the reactor including the experimental system and the reactor design has been studied. Typical results during abatement of VOCs mixture of n-propanol, p-xylene, and Dioxane (DOX) highlighted the potential of the plasma processing to decompose toxic VOCs. It has been observed that the order of removal efficiency of VOCs follows n-propanol > p-xylene > DOX, which explain their chemical bond strength and molecule stability.