Atmospheric plasma-driven catalysis for the low temperature decomposition of dilute aromatic compounds

The decomposition of volatile organic compounds (VOCs)—six aromatic compounds of benzene derivatives and formic acid—was investigated using a plasma-driven catalysis (PDC) system at atmospheric pressure. In the PDC reactor, the decomposition efficiency of VOCs was mostly determined by the specific input energy (SIE) and insensitivity to the gas hourly space velocity from 11 000 to 55 000 h−1. Formic acid (HCOOH) was formed as a common intermediate from the decomposition of the tested aromatic compounds. Formic acid was also found to be an important intermediate for CO2 formation. Except for styrene, all the tested VOCs indicated zero-order kinetics, which confirm the dominant role of the catalytic reaction in the decomposition of VOCs using the PDC reactor. A simple kinetic model represents well the observed zero-order kinetics with respect to the SIE. Unlike conventional plasma reactors, no correlation between the ionization potential and the decomposition was found with the PDC reactor. Continuous operation tests indicated stable performance without deterioration of catalytic activity over 150 h.