Treatment of Water Algae by Water Surface Discharge Plasma

Abstract

Generation of water surface discharges is considered as an effective method for polluted water treatment. Natural growth algae contamination in lake or pond water is a serious environmental problem in Bangladesh, also in various countries of the world. In this paper, we proposed water surface electric discharge for inactivation of Chlamydomonas algae from water. A high voltage AC source is used to generate electrical discharge above water surface. It was found that discharges initiated as very small streamer branching from sharpened positive electrode tip with very low light intensity of streamers. After that streamers propagated above the water surface and finally it converted to spark discharge with increasing input voltage. Chlamydomonas algae are chosen as sample of polluted water for treatment because it is enormously common in Bangladesh. It is found that water surface discharge plasma is an effective technique for removal of Chlamydomonas algae from water.