Decomposition of gaseous organic contaminants by surface discharge induced plasma chemical processing-SPCP

The decomposition performance of the surface induced plasma chemical processing (SPCP) for chlorofluorocarbon (83 ppm CFC-113 in air), acetone, trichloroethylene, and isopropylalcohol was experimentally examined. In every case, very high decomposition performance, more than 90 or 99% removal rate, is realized when the residence time is about 1 second and the input electric power for a 16 cm/sup 3/ reactor is about 10 W. Acetone is the most stable compound and alcohol is most easily decomposed. The decomposed product-analysis by a gaschromato-massspectrometer has just started but very poor results are obtained. In fact, some portion of the isopropylalcohol may change to acetone which is worse than alcohol. The necessary energy to decompose one mol gas diluted in the air is calculated from the experiments. The necessary energy level for acetone and trichloroethylene is about one-tenth or one-fiftieth of that for chlorofluorocarbon.