Destruction of waste or toxic gases and vapours in gliding arc reactor

A new energy efficient plasma reactor based on gliding discharges at atmospheric pressure is described. It can easily process every kind of gas or vapor, either cold or hot. A large ionized gas volume obtained at low energy density gives an out-of-thermal equilibrium and an extremely reactive medium especially adapted to incinerate or decompose waste and toxic gas or vapor. Two trials performed in laboratory and industrial scale reactors proposed for wide ranges of gas flow (up to 5000 m/sup 3//h) and dissipated electric power (up to 250 kW) are described.<>