Catalysis-assisted plasma technology for carbon tetrachloride destruction

Single-stage, catalysis-assisted plasma technology is a new concept developed to decompose carbon tetrachloride (CCl/sub 4/), one of the greenhouse gases, and to reduce the reaction by-products at the same time. A laboratory-scale plasma reactor used a packed-bed reactor with 1-mm spherical BaTiO/sub 3/ pellets. The configuration employed a unique one-stage catalysis/plasma process in which the BaTiO/sub 3/ pellets were coated or impregnated by active catalysts such as Co, Cu, Cr, Ni, and V. The power supply used for these experiments was either a 50-Hz neon transformer or an 18-kHz inverter neon transformer. Enhancement of the CCl/sub 4/ destruction and the conversion of by-product CO to CO/sub 2/ were demonstrated using Ni catalyst in the one-stage plasma reactor.