Effective factors on NOx mitigation in a non-thermal plasma reactor

Subject Areas : environmental management

Rasoul Yarahmadi ¹ , Seyed Bagher Mortazavi ² , Mohammad Reza Omidkhah ³ , Hassan Asiliyan ⁴ , Ali Khavanin ⁵

1 - Faculty of Medicine, Tarbiat Modares University
2 - Faculty of Medicine, Tarbiat Modares University
3 - Faculty of Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University
4 - Faculty of Medicine, Tarbiat Modares University
5 - استادیار گروه بهداشت حرفه ای دانشگاه تربیت مدرس

Received: 2007-09-11 Accepted : 2007-12-01 Published : 2009-12-22

Keywords: Nitrogen Oxides, non-thermal plasma, discharge, dielectric barrier,

Abstract :

The aim of the present study is to treat and eliminate NOx in plasma reactors under non-thermal, atmospheric conditions. In addition to its potentials for the reduction of energy consumption in the process of pollutants elimination, this technology has a special flexibility in treating and reducing minor pollutants simultaneously.  In this study, for the effective conversion of NOx, the process of Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) plasma is employed. The contact of electrons with the airflow containing NOx, radicals and active molecules are produced in a limited and controlled space. Then, conversion and treatment take place in the presence of propane. Among the effective factors on NOx conversion, variables such as temperature, space velocity, propane/NOx mole ratio, and voltage variations have been investigated in this study. Space velocity in the range of 11,000-23,000 per hour did not reveal any significant effect on NOx conversion. According to the obtained results, the optimum conditions for the conversion of NOx into N2, O2 and NO2 include a temperature of 180° C, equal propane/NOx mole ratio, and a voltage of 10 kilovolts (X-Conversion= 0.78; SD= 0.12). When the conditions for NOx conversion are a temperature of 180° C, equal propane/NOx mole ratio, and a voltage of 5 kilovolts, X-Conversion and SD will be 0.53 and 0.15, respectively.