Electron beam and pulsed corona processing of volatile organic compounds in gas streams

This paper presents experimental results on non-thermal plasma processing of atmospheric-pressure gas streams containing dilute concentrations of various volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This investigation used a compact electron beam reactor and a pulsed corona reactor to study the effects of background gas composition and gas temperature on the decomposition chemistry and electrical energy efficiency. The electrical energy consumption is characterized for the decomposition of a variety of VOCs, including carbon tetrachloride, trichloroethylene, methylene chloride, benzene, acetone and methanol. For most of the VOCs investigated, electron beam processing is more energy efficient than pulsed corona processing. For VOCs (such as carbon tetrachloride) that require copious amounts of electrons for its decomposition, electron beam processing is remarkably more energy efficient. For some VOCs the decomposition process is limited by their reaction rate with the plasma-produced radicals and/or by the occurrence of back reactions. In these cases, the energy consumption can be minimized by operating at high (but non-combusting) temperatures.