Decomposition of dichloroethane in a plasma arcjet reactor: experiment and modeling

Abstract

A plasma arcjet reactor has been constructed to study the fundamental reaction kinetics for decomposition of hazardous liquids. The temperature profile of the plasma jet was measured using an enthalpy probe, and the profile was used to model the arcjet as a nonisothermal tubular flow reactor. A surrogate liquid waste-1,2 dichloroethane-was injected into the plasma reactor, and the decomposition byproducts were monitored using a residual gas analyzer. The experimental results were compared to the predicted byproducts from the tubular reactor model and indicated that a photochemical dissociation process accounted for some of the decomposition of dichloroethane. This research also provided a more comprehensive understanding of the critical parameters associated with thermal plasma chemistry and the destruction of liquid waste.