(Digital Presentation) Water Treatment through the Arc and Pulsed Spark Discharge

Abstract

Water deterioration and depletion are accompanied by population growth and fast urbanization, posing major environmental problems. The prevalence of water-borne infections remains high, making it critical to discover effective ways of disinfecting water thoroughly. The main methods for inactivating a wide spectrum of harmful bacteria are chemical, physical, electrochemical, and radical. Conventional decontamination methods not only fail to completely disinfect water but also have several drawbacks, including the generation of disinfection byproducts; the complexity of disinfection reactor design; high energy consumption; and high running expenses. As a result, a versatile approach should be developed to overcome the limitations of current decontamination methods while also being efficient against a variety of diseases. Plasma-based water treatment has recently emerged as a possible alternative to traditional approaches. Plasma has proven to be more effective than conventional oxidants and disinfectants, both directly and indirectly. Plasma-related effects vary depending on the type of discharge, device settings, and process parameters. Electrical discharges are one of the most effective water treatment treatments. To this end, two plasma discharges, i.e., arc and pulsed spark discharge, are used for the treatment of synthetic contaminated water with microorganisms, which can be used for naturally contaminated surface water. Our results revealed that in comparison to arc discharge, pulse spark discharge produces more extreme acidic conditions by lowering the pH of water samples as well as a more reactive environment, which results in greater antibacterial efficacy. Furthermore, water samples treated with arc discharge had greater temperatures than water samples treated with pulse spark discharge, indicating that temperature was not a critical effector in the plasma-based sterilizing process.