The Effects of Inner Electrode Diameter on the Performance of Dielectric Barrier Discharge Reactor for Desulfurization and Denitrification

The inner electrode diameter on performances of dielectric barrier discharge reactor for desulfurization and denitrification was systematically investigated in H
₂
O/O
₂
/SO
₂
/NO/ C
₃
H
₆
/CO
₂
/N
₂
system. For analysis of the mechanism, the emission intensity of O(3p
⁵
P → 3s
⁵
S
₂
⁰
) and OH(A
²
Σ
⁺
→ X
²
Π) , gas temperature, and reduced field strength (E/N) were measured by optical emission spectra (OES). The experimental results show that increasing of inner electrode diameter can improve the oxidation degree of NOx and reduce energy consumption. For SO
₂
removal, the SO
₂
concentration at the outlet of the dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor decreases linearly with the increase of specific energy density (SED) for different inner electrode diameter, and inner electrode diameter has little effect on SO
₂
removal. Increasing SED can increase the emission intensity of OH and O radicals, which makes more SO
₂
been oxidized to SO
₃
and H
₂
SO
₄
by O and OH. The DBD reactor with a bigger inner electrode diameter has a lower gas gap temperature and higher E/N under the same SED, which effectively improves the electron energy, increases the formation of oxidative radicals, and reduces energy consumption.