Effect of temperature on the decomposition of trifluoromethane in a dielectric barrier discharge reactor

Abstract

This study investigated the decomposition of trifluoromethane (HFC-23) by using nonthermal plasma (NTP) generated in a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor. The main problem of the NTP process may be its low decomposition efficiency for fluorinated carbons, which can be resolved by introducing a catalyst and operating the process at elevated temperatures. The effect of temperature on the HFC-23 decomposition was examined with alumina or glass beads as the packing material in the NTP reactor. With other conditions kept constant, higher temperature resulted in higher HFC-23 decomposition efficiency, and it was shown that the NTP reactor packed with alumina beads acting as a catalyst decomposed HFC-23 more effectively than that with glass beads. When the reactor temperatures were 300 °C and 250 °C (flow rate: 60 L h − 1 ; HFC-23 concentration: 2000 ppm), the decomposition efficiency in the presence of the alumina catalyst approached 100% at input powers of 60 W and 100 W, respectively. The main products from HFC-23 were CO and CO 2, which nearly accounted for the amount of HFC-23 decomposed. With respect to the decomposition efficiency, the combination of the NTP and the catalyst was more advantageous than using them separately.