Comparative Study of Decomposition of CCl4 in Different Atmosphere Thermal Plasmas

Abstract

Decomposition of carbon tetrachloride was studied theoretically in the most commonly used thermal plasma atmosphere such as H2, N2, O2 and water steam. A code developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was adopted to calculate the chemical equilibrium distribution and energy consumption of the decomposition of CCl4 in the H2, N2, O2 and water steam atmosphere thermal plasma respectively, with a temperature range of 500 K to 5000 K. In the neutral condition (H2, N2, atmosphere) formation of solid carbon was observed and in the oxygen-atmosphere (O2 and water steam) solid carbon formation disappeared through controlling the ratio of C/O. This indicates that the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is impossible theoretically. The energy consumption in the N2 atmosphere was much higher than that in the H2, O2 and water steam atmosphere at 1500 K.