Conversion of NO to NO2 in air by a pulsed corona discharge process

A kinetic model was proposed to describe the behavior of pulsed corona discharge process applied to the removal of nitrogen oxides. The proposed model takes into account radical production at every pulse and NO removal by the radicals. On the basis of the direct electron impact on dissociation of gaseous molecules, the expressions for radical concentrations were derived by considering subsequent excitation transfer reactions of excited oxygen atoms for additional radical production. Experimental study on NO removal by using the pulsed corona discharge process is also reported in which the dependence of removal efficiency on electric field intensity, pulse frequency, treatment time and initial NOx(NO + NO2) concentration was examined. The validity of the kinetic model was established by good agreement between model calculations and experimental results. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.