Decomposition of benzene using alumina-hybrid and catalyst-hybrid plasma reactors

Abstract

In order to investigate the effects of alumina and metal ions in plasma discharge, plasma reactors packed with a mixture of BaTiO/sub 3/ pellets and porous Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ pellets (alumina-hybrid reactor), and with a-mixture of BaTiO/sub 3/ pellets and metal-supported Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ pellets (catalyst-hybrid reactor) were examined for oxidation of dilute benzene in air. It was found that the oxidative decomposition of benzene was enhanced by concentrating benzene on the Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ pellets and the catalyst pellets. Furthermore, the selectivities to CO/sub 2/ in the alumina-hybrid reactor and the catalyst-hybrid reactors were higher than those in the plasma reactor packed with BaTiO/sub 3/ pellets alone. In particular, the selectivities to CO/sub 2/ in the catalyst-hybrid reactors using Ag, Co, Cu and Ni/Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ were higher than those from the alumina-hybrid reactor. In addition, the presence of the alumina and catalysts suppressed the formation of N/sub 2/O.