Defluorination Mechanism of Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) with a Nanosecond Pulsed Plasma Gas-Liquid Flowing Film Reactor

Plasma interaction with water results in the dissociation of water (H 2 O) molecules leading to the formation of oxidative and reductive species such as hydroxyl radicals (•OH), hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), atomic oxygen (O), atomic hydrogen (H), molecular hydrogen (H 2 ), and aqueous electrons. The reactive species generated are responsible for degradation of toxic chemicals such as PFOA. In our previous study 1 , we analyzed mineralization of 50 ppm PFOA with a gas-liquid plasma reactor using nanosecond pulses and varying the pulse frequency between 0.25kHz - 10kHz. The highest F - production rate of 1.57×10 -8 moles/s was observed at 5 kHz. The highest energy efficiency of 9.12×10 -9 moles/J was observed at 0.25 kHz.