Decomposition of benzene using alumina-hybrid and catalyst-hybrid plasma reactors

In order to investigate the effects of alumina and metal ions in plasma discharge, plasma reactors packed with a mixture of BaTiO3 pellets and porous Al2O3 pellets (alumina-hybrid reactor), and with a mixture of BaTiO3 pellets and metal-supported Al2O3 pellets (catalyst-hybrid reactor) were examined for oxidation of dilute benzene in air. It was found that the oxidative decomposition of benzene was enhanced by concentrating benzene on the Al2O3 pellets and the catalyst pellets. Furthermore, the selectivities to CO2 in the alumina-hybrid reactor and the catalyst-hybrid reactors were higher than those in the plasma reactor packed with BaTiO3 pellets alone. In particular, the selectivities to CO2 in the catalyst-hybrid reactors using Ag, Co, Cu and Ni/Al2O3 were higher than those from the alumina-hybrid reactor. In addition, the presence of the alumina and catalysts suppressed the formation of N2O.