New Hybrid Surface–Volume Dielectric Barrier Discharge Reactor for Ozone Generation

Abstract

Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) is the most efficient way used in industry for ozone generation. In the last decades, many papers were published on such DBD-based ozone generators. Several geometric configurations can be used to generate ozone. They can be classified into two types depending on the discharge form: volume DBD, which is the common one in ozone industry, and surface DBD. Many studies have been conducted to analyze the ozone generation efficiency of both reactors to get maximum ozone production with the lowest possible power consumption. The aim of this paper is to carry out an experimental analysis of a patent-pending new reactor, of hybrid configuration, in which occur simultaneously a volume and a surface DBD. The hybrid reactor comprises a ground stainless steel cylindrical electrode, within which is placed a glass tube separated by an interval of 1 mm in which the volume DBD occurs. A second mesh stainless steel electrode connected to the high voltage is placed inside the glass tube wherein the surface discharge occurs. The obtained results showed a clear superiority of the hybrid reactor compared with both volume and surface DBD in terms of the ozone concentration. The difference in the ozone concentration reaches up to 50% compared with the volume DBD and 30% compared with the surface DBD.