Degradation of dyes by active species injected from a gas phase surface discharge

Abstract

A reactor, based on the traditional gas phase surface discharge (GPSD), is designed for degradation of dye wastewater in this study. The reactor is characterized by using the dye wastewater as a ground electrode. A spiral discharge electrode of stainless steel wire attached on the inside wall of a cylindrical insulating medium and the wastewater surrounding the insulating medium for simultaneous cooling of the discharge electrode constitute the reactor. The active chemical radicals generated by the discharge of the spiral electrode are injected into the water with the carrier gas. The removal of three organic dyes (including methyl red (MR), reactive brilliant blue (RBB) and cationic red (CR)) in aqueous solution is investigated. The effects of electrode configuration, discharge voltage and solution pH value on the decoloration efficiency of MR are discussed. The experimental results show that over 95% of decoloration efficiencies for all the dyes are obtained after several minutes of plasma treatment. 40% of chemical oxygen demand removal of MR is obtained after 8 min of discharge treatment. Furthermore, it is found that ozone mainly affects the removal of dyes and several aliphatic compounds are identified as the oxidation products of MR. The possible degradation pathways of MR by GPSD are proposed.