Ethylene decomposition with a wire-plate dielectric barrier discharge reactor: parameters and kinetic study

Abstract

Ethylene is an undesirable compound for the storage of horticultural products. The traditional fresh-keeping method of fruits and vegetables is refrigeration. However, even in refrigeration environment, ethylene is released by horticultural products themselves or other sources. The residual ethylene can accelerate maturation and corruption of horticultural products and thus should better be wiped away. The technique of dielectric barrier discharge was applied to decompose ethylene. Under electric discharge, many energetic and highly reactive species can be produced, which can react with and decompose the chemical compounds in contact with them. In this study, the efficiency of ethylene removal using dielectric barrier discharge reactor was studied. Ethylene removal rates were affected by many factors, such as gas discharge gap, wire distance, flow rate, ethylene initial concentration and humidity. The kinetics of ethylene removal was studied. To disintegrate ethylene, the optimal discharge gap was 3 mm, wire distance 0.5 mm, gas flow rate 3.5 L min−1 and humidity 61 %. Two kinetics models were selected for ethylene decomposition, and experimental results could fit the model with a maximum absolute error of 4 %. With optimal discharge condition, ethylene can totally be removed. In the future, decomposition of ethylene by dielectric barrier discharge technology will be a promising method to keep fruits and vegetables fresh.