Plasma reactor with continuous flow system for degradation of methylene blue

Abstract

This study aimed to optimize a plasma reactor with continuous flow system using AC or DC as a voltage source and a pair of stainless steel as needle electrodes with 2±0.005 cm of apart. The electrodes were placed 4±0.5 mm above the methylene blue solution as a sample. The optimization of the reactor evaluated from degradation of methylene blue after contact with plasma for several contact time variation. The flow rate of methylene blue was 8.3 cc/second. The degradation of methylene blue was seen from absorbance, pH, and temperature after contact compare to before contact with the plasma. Generation of plasma occurs at 11.5 kV of DC or AC voltage. Then, absorbance and pH of methylene blue were decreased as increasing of contact time with plasma. However, the temperature of methylene blue is increased. On the flowrate of 8.3 cc/second with the volume of 1000 mL, the absorbance of methylene blue decrease until 99.37% after contact with plasma using DC voltage for 210 minutes. However, using AC voltage it only takes 180 minutes to decrease until 99.72%.