The characterization of a packed bed plasma reactor for ozone generation

Abstract

A packed bed plasma reactor (PBPR) was designed, characterized and optimized for ozone generation from oxygen and air. The effects of reactor arrangement, feed gas flow rate, coolant temperature, input power and dielectric material on ozone generation were investigated. The highest ozone concentration of 152 g m−3 was obtained using 2.0 mm borosilicate glass beads and a 0.06 dm3 min−1 oxygen feed at 5 °C, whilst the highest ozone yield efficiency was 209 g kW−1 h−1 at an oxygen feed rate of 20 dm3 min−1. The highest ozone concentration produced from air was 15.6 g m−3 at a flow rate of 0.06 dm3 min−1 with 2.0 mm 3 A molecular sieves beads (MS) beads as the dielectric. It was found that the effect of the dielectric on ozone generation affected significantly by the feed gas composition and flow rate. In addition, ozone production affected significantly by the number of dielectric layers in contact with the HV electrodes, thickness of packing and reactor arrangement. Different NOx by-products were formed along with ozone when the PBPR was fed with air depending on the coolant temperature and feed gas flow rate.