Decomposition of gas-phase benzene using plasma-driven catalyst (PDC) reactor packed with Ag/TiO2 catalyst

This paper describes the decomposition of gas-phase benzene using a plasma-driven catalyst (PDC) reactor packed with 1.0 wt.% Ag/TiO2 catalysts. The decomposition of benzene preferentially produced CO2 and CO, and formic acid as minor one. Carbon balance based on these products was satisfactory at around 100%. For the concentration lower than 110 ppm, the PDC reactor successfully decomposed benzene with specific input energy of around 130 J/l, where the formation of nitrogen oxides was small. The plasma-induced catalytic activity appeared only during plasma application and disappeared as the plasma was turned off. Thermal catalysis showed that temperature was not an important parameter in the decomposition of benzene using the PDC reactor. Comparison of the effects of dilution gases (Ar, N-2) on the benzene decomposition revealed that the contribution of UV light from the plasma to the activation of Ag/TiO2 catalyst was negligible. The contribution of catalytic reaction became dominant as increasing specific input energy. The removed amount of benzene showed zero-order to the initial concentration of benzene and determined mostly by specific input energy to the PDC reactor. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.