Decomposition of benzene using non-thermal plasma reactor packed with ferroelectric pellet

Abstract

The decomposition of benzene in air was carried out using a nonthermal discharge plasma reactor packed with ferroelectric materials. It was found that ferroelectric materials having a diameter of 1-2 mm and a relative dielectric constant of /spl epsi//sub r/ /spl ges/1100 exhibited the most effective energy efficiency for the decomposition of benzene. Benzene of low concentration, below 50 ppm, was completely decomposed to CO and CO/sub 2/ without the formation of other hydrocarbons. The ratio of CO to CO/sub 2/ produced from benzene was minimized under the atmosphere containing more than 5% of O/sub 2/.