Non-thermal Plasma Technology Research Articles

Non-Thermal Plasma as an Alternative to Enhance the Early Growth Structures in Lentil Plants

The scarcity and contamination of water, aggravated by the effects of Climate Change, endanger the food supply, cause health problems to humans, and are a critical concern. New research has been carried out to improve the quality of water used in the agricultural sector. One of them is the technology of non-thermal plasma (NTP) generated by corona discharges using air as a working gas. In this study, the NTP is applied directly and causing the activation to three water sources: potable, wastewater from poultry farming, and rain, on the legume “lentil.” The results show that the NTP applied to the different water conditions modifies the legume structure, obtaining a better germination and growth rate. In particular, it found that the best condition to stimulate the plant structure growth is using wastewater from poultry activities, which NTP activates. Likewise, it identified the internalization of pathogenic microorganisms such as Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium since the early development of the plant. The bacteria reduction after NTP application is detected due to the effect of the reactive species generated by the NTP. The NTP application for water activation can represent an alternative to solve the demand for food since the development of the structures of legumes, particularly of lentils, is promoted.

Review of Developments in Combating COVID-19 by Vaccines, Inhibitors, Radiations, and Nonthermal Plasma.

Global society has been highly pressured by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has exposed vulnerabilities in supply chains for disinfection products, personal protective equipment, and medical resources worldwide. It is critically necessary to find effective treatments and medications for these viral infections. This review summarizes and emphasizes critical features of recent breakthroughs in vaccines, inhibitors, radiations, and innovative nonthermal atmospheric plasma (NTAP) technologies to inactivate COVID-19. NTAP has emerged as an effective, efficient, and safe method of viral inactivation. NTAP can be used to inactivate viruses in an environmentally friendly manner, as well as activate animal and plant viruses in a variety of matrices. Researchers and engineers desire to help the medical world deal with the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic by establishing techniques that make use of widely available NTAP technologies. NTAP technology is not dependent on viral strain, and it does not necessitate months or years of research to develop specific vaccines for each novel or arising viral disease. We believe the NTAP is a highly promising technique for combating COVID-19 and other viruses. Thus, NTAP technology could be a significant breakthrough in the near future in assisting humans in combating COVID-19 infections. We hope that this review provides a platform for readers to examine the progress made in the fight against COVID-19 through the use of vaccines, inhibitors, radiation, and NTAP.

Catalytic Hydrogen Evolution from H2S Cracking over CrxZnS Catalyst in a Cylindrical Single-Layered Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Reactor.

The use of non-thermal plasma technology in producing green fuels is a much-appreciated environmentally friendly approach. In this study, an Al2O3-supported CrxZnS semiconductor catalyst was tested for hydrogen evolution from hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas by using a single-layered dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) system. The Al2O3-supported CrxZnS catalyst (x = 0.20, 0.25, and 0.30) was produced by using a co-impregnation method and characterized for its structural and photocatalytic characteristics. The discharge column of the DBD system was filled with this catalyst and fed with hydrogen sulfide and argon gas. The DBD plasma was sustained with a fixed AC source of 10 kV where plasma produced species and UV radiations activated the catalyst to break H2S molecules under ambient conditions. The catalyst (hexagonal-cubic-sphalerite structure) showed an inverse relationship between the band gap and the dopant concentration. The hydrogen evolution decreased with an increase in dopant concentration in the nanocomposite. The Cr0.20ZnS catalyst showed excellent photocatalytic activity under the DBD exposure by delivering 100% conversion efficiency of H2S into hydrogen. The conversion decreased to 96% and 90% in case of Cr0.25ZnS and Cr0.30ZnS, respectively.

Aged microplastics enhance their interaction with ciprofloxacin and joint toxicity on Escherichia coli

Microplastics (MPs) in natural environments undergo complex aging processes, changing their interactions with coexisting antibiotics, and posing unpredictable ecological risks. However, the joint toxicity of aged MPs (aMPs) and antibiotics to bacteria, especially at the molecular level, is unclear. In this study, non-thermal plasma technology was used to simultaneously simulate various radical oxidation and physical reactions that occur naturally in the environment, breaking the limitation of simple aging process in laboratory aging technologies. After aging, we investigated the altered properties of aMPs, their interactions with ciprofloxacin (CIP), and the molecular responses of E. coli exposed to pristine MPs (13.5 mg/L), aMPs (13.5 mg/L), and CIP (2 μg/L) individually or simultaneously. aMPs bound far more CIP to their surfaces than pristine MPs, especially in freshwater ecosystems. Notably, the growth of E. coli exposed to aMPs alone was inhibited, whereas pristine MPs exposure didn’t affect the growth of E. coli. Moreover, the most differentially expressed genes in E. coli were induced by the coexposure of aMPs and CIP. Although E. coli depended on chemotaxis to improve its flagellar rotation and escaped the stress of pollutants, the coexposure of aMPs and CIP still caused cell membrane damage, oxidative stress, obstruction of DNA replication, and osmotic imbalance in E. coli. This study filled the knowledge gap between the toxicity of aMPs and pristine MPs coexisting with antibiotics at the transcription level, helping in the accurate assessment of the potential risks of MPs to the environment.

Non-Thermal Plasma Technology for CO2 Conversion—An Overview of the Most Relevant Experimental Results and Kinetic Models

Global warming, along with increasing global energy demands, has led to the need for a sustainable and low-carbon-based energy economy. In addition to renewable energy technologies, such as biomass, solar, hydro, and wind, another possible strategy to mitigate climate change is the capture/conversion and recycling of CO2. In recent years, many methods for both CO2 capture (mainly adsorption, absorption, and membrane) and conversion (many electrolysis, catalyst, and plasma) have been investigated. Conversion technology is less studied but seems to be very promising. Within that, non-thermal plasma technology has received much interest because it works at low temperatures and atmospheric pressure, and there is no need for high temperature and high electricity consumption, which are typical of the catalyst and electrolysis conversion processes, respectively. Therefore, in order to optimize this emerging technology, simulative kinetic models have been developed with the aim of maximizing both energy efficiency and CO2 conversion. In the present paper, an overview of the most common non-thermal plasma technologies was carried out to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Then, an overview of the most significant kinetic models available in literature was carried out to point out the main reactions occurring during CO2 conversion and also the parameters that most affect the performance of a plasma reactor during CO2 conversion. Then, a brief recap of the literature available on economic studies of the plasma process is given.

Plasma-Assisted Nanofabrication: The Potential and Challenges in Atomic Layer Deposition and Etching.

The growing need for increasingly miniaturized devices has placed high importance and demands on nanofabrication technologies with high-quality, low temperatures, and low-cost techniques. In the past few years, the development and recent advances in atomic layer deposition (ALD) processes boosted interest in their use in advanced electronic and nano/microelectromechanical systems (NEMS/MEMS) device manufacturing. In this context, non-thermal plasma (NTP) technology has been highlighted because it allowed the ALD technique to expand its process window and the fabrication of several nanomaterials at reduced temperatures, allowing thermosensitive substrates to be covered with good formability and uniformity. In this review article, we comprehensively describe how the NTP changed the ALD universe and expanded it in device fabrication for different applications. We also present an overview of the efforts and developed strategies to gather the NTP and ALD technologies with the consecutive formation of plasma-assisted ALD (PA-ALD) technique, which has been successfully applied in nanofabrication and surface modification. The advantages and limitations currently faced by this technique are presented and discussed. We conclude this review by showing the atomic layer etching (ALE) technique, another development of NTP and ALD junction that has gained more and more attention by allowing significant advancements in plasma-assisted nanofabrication.

Experimental analysis of gas- and particle-phase organic byproducts formed by plasma-induced toluene destruction processes

• Organic byproducts were evaluated by NTP degradation of toluene at ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure. • PTR-TOFMS measurement showed that toluene degradation resulted in dozens of organic by-products. • Size distribution and number concentration of particles formed during toluene degradation were measured by SMPS. • NTP-induced polymerization and oxidation contribute to particle formation with diameters in the range of 10 and 100 nm. Non-thermal plasma (NTP) technology has great potential to treat volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at low concentrations and large volumes. In this work, toluene, one of the most stable VOCs, was employed as a model pollutant to study its degradation by double dielectric barrier discharge (DDBD) at ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure. The performance of the DDBD reactor was evaluated in terms of discharge power, removal efficiency, CO x selectivity, and byproduct formation. Online and continuous measurements by PTR-TOFMS showed that toluene degradation resulted in the formation of 12 major volatile organic byproducts as well as 7 minor ones with concentrations ranging from ppbv to ppmv. Moreover, the particle size distribution and number concentration of particles formed during toluene degradation were measured using a scanning mobility particle sizer, and the effects of discharge power, initial toluene concentration, gas flow rate and O 2 content on particle formation were systematically investigated. The results show that both NTP-induced polymerization and oxidation contribute to aerosol formation, and the total concentration of organic byproducts in the aerosol phase is about 10 7 cm −3 with diameters in the range of 10 and 100 nm. This pioneered investigation on gas- and particle-phase organic byproducts from toluene degradation by NTP would deepen the understanding of plasma degradation of VOCs and accelerate the practical application of NTP for VOCs treatment.

A novel approach for microalgal cell disruption and bioproducts extraction using non-thermal atmospheric plasma (NTAP) technology and chitosan flocculation

Microalgal cell disruption and bio-product extraction still remain as major challenging steps for biomass downstream processing. In this study, a sustainable approach of using non-thermal atmospheric plasma (NTAP) and chitosan flocculation was developed for microalgal cell disruption and bio-product recovery from wet C. Sorokiniana. For this purpose, the performance of NTAP treatment for cell disruption and extraction of protein, carbohydrate and lipid was investigated by using different applied voltages (8–16 kV). Then, the application of chitosan on recovery of bioproducts from the culture medium was evaluated. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) images were used to analyze the flocculation mechanism and for flocs characterization. Additionally, the energy consumption and efficiency of the NTAP process were analyzed. According to the NTAP results, the highest cell disruption of 75% was achieved under the applied voltage of 16 kV. However, in the case of bioproducts extraction, the optimal applied voltage was 12 kV which was able to yield 41, 24 and 36 (%CDW) of protein, carbohydrate and lipid, respectively. Adding 100 mg/L chitosan efficiently recovered the released protein (65%) and carbohydrate (85%) from culture medium, while the highest lipid recovery (60%) was achieved at 150 mg/L chitosan addition. This study proved that the utilization of NTAP and chitosan treatment can be considered as a promising approach for valuable products extraction from microalgae.

Quantitative Analysis of Plant Cytosolic Calcium Signals in Response to Water Activated by Low-Power Non-Thermal Plasma.

Non-thermal plasma technology is increasingly being applied in the plant biology field. Despite the variety of beneficial effects of plasma-activated water (PAW) on plants, information about the mechanisms of PAW sensing by plants is still limited. In this study, in order to link PAW perception to the positive downstream responses of plants, transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings expressing the Ca2+-sensitive photoprotein aequorin in the cytosol were challenged with water activated by low-power non-thermal plasma generated by a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) source. PAW sensing by plants resulted in the occurrence of cytosolic Ca2+ signals, whose kinetic parameters were found to strictly depend on the operational conditions of the plasma device and thus on the corresponding mixture of chemical species contained in the PAW. In particular, we highlighted the effect on the intracellular Ca2+ signals of low doses of DBD-PAW chemicals and also presented the effects of consecutive plant treatments. The results were discussed in terms of the possibility of using PAW-triggered Ca2+ signatures as benchmarks to accurately modulate the chemical composition of PAW in order to induce environmental stress resilience in plants, thus paving the way for further applications in agriculture.

Estimation of in vivo toxicity of MgO/ZnO core/shell nanoparticles synthesized by eco-friendly non-thermal plasma technology.

MgO/ZnO core/shell nanoparticles were synthesized using the atmosphere plasma jets technique. The physical properties of the synthesized nanoparticles were investigated by a series of techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). XRD and EDS analyses confirmed the purity of the nanoparticles synthesized with an average nanoparticle crystallite size of 36 nm. TEM confirmed the successful synthesis of spindle-shaped MgO/ZnO core/shell nanoparticles with an average size of 70 nm. To evaluate their toxicity, the MgO/ZnO core/shell nanoparticles were tested in vivo. Twenty-five albino female rats were randomly divided into five groups (five rats in each group); one was used as the control group and the other four as the experimental groups. Doses of the MgO/ZnO core/shell nanoparticles solution were orally administered to the test groups to examine the toxicity. For 30 consecutive days, each rat in test groups 2–5 received 1 mL of the MgO/ZnO core/shell nanoparticles solution at the respective doses of 1.25, 2.5, 5, and 10 mg L−1. The rats’ growth, hematology, thyroid gland function, and histopathology were examined after 30 days. Findings indicate that the growth retardation in the rats treated with MgO/ZnO core/shell nanoparticles may be due to their infection by Hyperthyroidism. The hematology results show the nonsignificant effect of MgO/ZnO core/shell nanoparticles on white blood cells, implying that these nanoparticles have no harmful impact on the immune system. Moreover, the levels of the thyroxine and thyroid‐stimulating hormones increased, and that of the triiodothyronine hormone decreased. The histological analysis results show that low concentrations of MgO/ZnO core/shell nanoparticles are safe for desired biomedical applications.

Application of non-thermal plasma as an alternative for purification of bacterial cellulose membranes

During the production of cellulose a purification process is applied, which is essential for its safe application in certain contexts, such as skin replacement, as it removes metabolites and bacterial cell debris. Currently, the most frequently adopted methodology is the immersion of the membranes in NaOH solution and this generates chemical residues. Also, the lack of consensus on the ideal methodology has led to discrepancies between results obtained by different authors. In the study reported herein, the action of non-thermal plasma (NTP) technology when applied in the bacterial cellulose (BC) purification process was investigated. The BC was synthesized using Gluconacetobacter hansenii. It was removed from the culture medium and immediately exposed to the NTP reactor in sterile distilled water for different treatment periods (10–30 min). The production capacity was determined and the BC obtained was subjected to physical-chemical characterization, morphological analysis, live/dead fluorescent microscopy and surface characterization via contact angle measurements. The results showed that after 15 min of treatment with NTP, no new membranes appeared when the BC samples were placed back in the culture medium. Micrographs of the membranes subjected to 10 min of plasma treatment showed bacteria or bacterial remnants (in both inner and outer areas) while after 15 min a significant decrease in bacterial cells was observed, mainly in the inner area. This demonstrates that the plasma can be used for the superficial and internal reduction of colonies present in BC membranes, to levels of almost complete elimination. The results reported herein demonstrate the potential of NTP application in the bacterial cellulose purification process, optimizing the production time and avoiding the generation of aggressive chemical residues.

THC and CO Emissions from Diesel Engines Using Biodiesel Produced from Residual Frying Oil by Non-Thermal Plasma Technology

Research aimed at finding alternative fuels to replace petroleum diesel (petrodiesel) used in controlled combustion engines (CCEs) has identified biodiesel as one of the main candidates, due to its sustainability and potential for use in energy matrices. In this study, the gas emissions from a diesel CCE were investigated, with a focus on total hydrocarbons (THC) and carbon monoxide (CO). Biodiesel (B100) samples derived from the transesterification of frying oil, produced applying conventional chemical catalysis (CC) or non-thermal plasma (NTP) technology, were tested as alternative fuels. Three engine rotation speeds were investigated (900, 1500, and 2500 rpm) and biodiesel samples obtained from the residual frying oil were compared with conventional road diesel (S-500) without biodiesel added, acquired from a gas station. Blends were also prepared with S-500 and B100 obtained applying NTP for 15 or 30 min, in mixes containing 2, 12, 20, and 50% of biodiesel. These blends showed reductions in THC and CO emissions of 62% and 80%, respectively, compared with the emissions for 100% S-500. Thus, biodiesel produced from frying oil offers low emissions of CO and THC, highlighting the potential for reductions using biodiesel produced applying the NTP technology.

Spent ground coffee oil using non-thermal plasma technology as a pre-extraction method: an in vitro analysis of collagen synthesis, cell proliferation and migration and toxicity

Coffee consumption continues to grow all over the world and in 2019 the equivalent of 167.90 million 60-kg bags were consumed worldwide, with Brazil being the largest producer and exporter and the second largest consumer of the beverage. The amount of coffee by-products generated is extremely high, being mainly composed of immature/defective coffee, coffee husks, silver skin and spend coffee grounds (SCG). Studies indicate that SCG oil contains high concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids, primarily linoleic and palmitic acids, which have excellent skin emollient and moisturizing properties. This paper reports an analysis of the degree of toxicity, collagen synthesis and the potential for proliferation and cell migration of SCG oil after passing through a pre-extraction process with innovative non-thermal plasma (NTP) technology. It was found that coffee oil subjected to NTP has low toxicity and great potential for cell proliferation and migration compared to oil extracted without NTP treatment. This will be of great interest to the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, adding value to a waste product available in large quantities in association with the use of a clean technology (non-thermal plasma).

Perspectives and Advances of Nonthermal Plasma Technology in Cancers

Cancer is a devastating and life-threatening disease. It is the second leading cause of death worldwide after heart diseases. While science has significantly advanced to improve the treatment outcome and quality of life in cancer patients, there are still many issues with the current therapies, such as toxicity and the development of resistance to treatment. Among the novel tools to overcome these limitations is nonthermal plasma (NTP) and its treatment regimens. Recent progress in NTP devices with ion temperatures close to room temperature demonstrated significant potential in cancer therapy. NTP devices provide a unique combination of reactive oxygen species (ROS), reactive nitrogen species (RNS), photons, and electric fields that exhibit desirable properties of triggering cell death pathways, selectively for cancer cells. While in principle NTP is nonnecrotic and gentle to the tissue, but reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS)-triggered tumor cell death exhibited to have pro-immunogenic properties. Many <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">in vitro</i> and <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">in vivo</i> experiments have demonstrated antitumor effects of direct NTP, synergistic applications of NTP with anticancer drugs/treatments, and plasma-conditioned medium (PCM) applications against a variety of cancer cells. The latest results and findings in this field are the subject of this review along with a brief lay-reader-explanation of cancer and immunology. In this review, initially, we give an overview of the literature that deals with studies on the use of NTP for cancer treatment. Subsequently, we present typical results from that literature to illustrate the advances of NTP in oncology. Finally, we discuss some challenges and future scopes offered by NTP for cancer treatment.

Water purification by ozone generator employing non-thermal plasma

A plasma-based Ozone Generator has been constructed using non-thermal plasma technology and taking oxygen as a precursor. Ozone has generated by the electric discharge of molecular oxygen. Optimum conditions of ozone production were tested by varying applied voltage (1kV–16kV) and plasma discharge time (3–40min) keeping a constant flow rate of 2 l/min. The maximum obtained gaseous ozone concentration was 490 ppb in 15sec at a maximum applied voltage of 16 kV. Ozone has been treated with 0.00003 M indigo dye solution to measure dissolved ozone amount, analyzed by UV–Visible spectroscopy, and has calculated maximum dissolved ozone concentration of 51.74 ppm at 16 kV for a maximum time of 40min. Bandgap energy has also been analyzed for all ozone-treated indigo samples. Sewage, Canal, and Tap water have been treated with ozone for time 5min–60min at 16 kV. Water purification has been analyzed by UV–Visible spectroscopy, Optical microscopy, and digital TDS meter. After ozonation, total dissolved solids for sewage water have reduced from 462 ppm to 282 ppm. This value was reduced from 355 ppm to 212 ppm for tap water.

Study of detoxification of methyl parathion by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) non-thermal plasma at gas-liquid interface：mechanism and bio-toxicity evaluation

Methyl parathion (MP) as an organophosphorus pesticide has been used in the control of agricultural pests and diseases. Due to its high toxicity and persistence in the environment, MP may pose threat to human health when it is released into environmental water. For MP treatment, people have found that oxidative degradation of MP may generate some intermediates which are more toxic than MP itself, such as methyl paraoxon. Herein, we proposed a new method of applying dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) non-thermal plasma technology to treat MP in aqueous solution, and investigated the influences of different gases, pH value, discharge voltage/power, and main active species on the MP removal efficiency. In particular, the safety of DBD treatment was concerned with analysis of the biological toxicity of the byproducts from the DBD oxidation, and the DBD-induced degradation together with the involved mechanism was explored therein. The results showed that the production of toxic intermediates could be effectively suppressed or avoided under certain treatment conditions. As such, this work demonstrates that the proper application of DBD plasma technology with necessary caution can detoxify methyl parathion effectively, and also provides a practical guide for low-temperature plasma application in treatment of various organophosphorus pesticides in agricultural wastewater.

The Applications of Plasma Gas Injection for Pollutants Treatment

Plasma gas injection as one of the non-thermal plasma (NTP) technologies has a free-standing gas-phase plasma reactor outside the polluted target and can efficiently degrade contaminants by injecting plasma gas containing a large number of reactive species. This approach has been utilized in various fields of pollutants treatment, because of its structural advantage of indirect contact between pollutants and electrodes and its ability to produce strong oxidizing species. This article first expounds on the principle of the plasma gas injection and then progresses to a discussion of its application for pollutants degradation, mainly focusing on the treatment effect and degradation mechanisms. It is believed that plasma gas injection is considered to be a very practical, clean, efficient, and environmentally friendly method for pollution control.

Disinfection of corona and myriad viruses in water by non-thermal plasma: a review.

Nowadays, in parallel to the appearance of the COVID-19 virus, the risk of viruses in water increases leading to the necessity of developing novel disinfection methods. This review focuses on the route of virus contamination in water and introduces non-thermal plasma technology as a promising method for the inactivation of viruses. Effects of essential parameters affecting the non-thermal discharge for viral inactivation have been exposed. The review has also illustrated a critical discussion of this technology with other advanced oxidation processes. Additionally, the inactivation mechanisms have also been detailed based on reactive oxygen and nitrogen species.

Catalytic non-thermal plasma process for the degradation of organic pollutants in aqueous solution

The aim of the present work was to optimize the performance of the Non-Thermal Plasma (NTP) technology coupled with a structured catalyst for the degradation of organic and recalcitrant pollutants in aqueous solution. Specifically, the catalyst consists of CeO2 supported onto ɣ-Al2O3 spheres, synthesized by the wet-impregnation method, and characterized through Raman spectroscopy, specific surface area (BET) by N2 adsorption at − 196 °C and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). All experiments were carried out in a Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) reactor. The first sets of tests were accomplished to optimize the degradation of Acid Orange 7 (AO7) azo dye in aqueous solution. The effect of catalyst formulation and oxygen flow rate in the reactor, as well as the reusability of the catalyst, were studied in detail. Moreover, the effect of radical scavengers was examined to suggest a plausible degradation mechanism, and an HPLC analysis was performed to understand to which extent degradation proceeds with the formation of intermediates. The best performance of the system in terms of total degradation and mineralization efficiencies is found for 15 min run time using 2.9 wt% CeO2/ɣ-Al2O3, with a voltage equal to 12 kV and 0.045 NL/min oxygen flow rate. The catalyst showed reusability properties after 5 runs and no intermediates were found by HPLC analysis, suggesting that AO7 degradation takes place with complete mineralization. Scavenger analysis showed that ozone is the most important reactive species responsible for degradation since its decomposition leads to the generation of effective secondary oxygen reactive species. Furthermore, given the semiconductor features of CeO2, it may also be excited by the plasma-generated UV radiation, suggesting that electron-hole pairs were also involved in the degradation mechanism. The remarkable efficiency of the proposed catalytic NTP treatment shows the potential of the system for the decontamination of aqueous solutions containing organic and recalcitrant pollutants. To confirm the potentiality of the system, the degradation of glyphosate (GLY) was also assessed under the optimal conditions set up for AO7 degradation, obtaining 84% degradation efficiency after 30 min run time.

Recent Advances of Emerging Organic Pollutants Degradation in Environment by Non-Thermal Plasma Technology: A Review

Emerging organic pollutants (EOPs), including endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), and persistent organic pollutants (POPs), constitute a problem in the environmental field as they are difficult to completely degrade by conventional treatment methods. Non-thermal plasma technology is a novel advanced oxidation process, which combines the effects of free radical oxidation, ozone oxidation, ultraviolet radiation, shockwave, etc. This paper summarized and discussed the research progress of non-thermal plasma remediation of EOPs-contaminated water and soil. In addition, the reactive species in the process of non-thermal plasma degradation of EOPs were summarized, and the degradation pathways and degradation mechanisms of EOPs were evaluated of selected EOPs for different study cases. At the same time, the effect of non-thermal plasma in synergy with other techniques on the degradation of EOPs in the environment was evaluated. Finally, the bottleneck problems of non-thermal plasma technology are summarized, and some suggestions for the future development of non-thermal plasma technology in the environmental remediation were presented. This review contributes to our better understanding of non-thermal plasma technology for remediation of EOPs-contaminated water and soil, hoping to provide reference for relevant practitioners.