Behaviour of Trichloroethylene Decomposition in a Plasma-Catalytic Combined Process

Abstract

A nonthermal plasma processing combined with Cr2O3/TiO2 catalyst was applied to the decomposition of trichloroethylene (TCE). A dielectric barrier discharge reactor was used as the nonthermal plasma reactor. The effects of the reaction temperature and input power on the decomposition of TCE and the formation of byproducts including HCl, Cl2, CO, NO, NO2 and O3 were examined. With an identical input power, the increase in the reactor temperature lowered the decomposition of TCE. The presence of the catalyst downstream the plasma reactor not only enhanced the decomposition of TCE but also affected the distribution of byproducts significantly. However any synergetic effect as a result of the combination of the nonthermal plasma with the catalyst was not observed, i.e., the TCE decomposition efficiency in the plasma-catalyst combined system was almost similar to the sum of those obtained with each process. To improve the decomposition of TCE argon as a plasma-assisting gas was added to the feeding gas and a large enhancement in the TCE decomposition was achieved.