Atmospheric-Pressure Radio-Frequency Discharge for Degradation of Vinyl Chloride With $\hbox{Pt}/\hbox{Al}_{2}\hbox{O}_{3}$ Catalyst

This study investigates the application of a radio-frequency-powered plasma with a Pt/γ-Al
₂
O
₃
catalyst to decompose the chlorinated volatile organic compound of vinyl chloride (VC) in air. The use of an atmospheric-pressure plasma jet is explored as an innovative technology for the treatment of VC. The effects of some major system parameters such as input power (
P
_WI
), plasma energy density, initial concentration of VC (
C
₀
), and space velocity (SV) of the catalyst on the plateau temperature (
TP
) of a reactor and conversions of VC (
X
_VC
) are studied and elucidated. The results show that the effectiveness of the plasma-assisted catalysis is evident as indicated by the increase of
X
_VC
and the rate constant. At a
P
_WI
of 250 W without a catalyst, the values of
X
_VC
were 14% and 5.4% for
C
₀
= 200 and 450 ppmv, respectively. In the presence of the Pt/γ-Al
₂
O
₃
catalyst with an SV of 17 400 h
^-1
, the values of
X
_VC
for
C
₀
= 200 and 450 ppmv increased to 49% and 39%, respectively. Note that the values of
TP
were 550 K and 430 K without and with the Pt/γ-Al
₂
O
₃
catalyst at an SV of 17 400 h
^-1
and a
P
_WI
of 250 W. The proposed kinetic models describe the relationships of
C
/
C
₀
with the major parameters for the plasma and plasma-assisted catalytic degradation of VC, showing good agreement with the experimental data. The information obtained is useful for the operation, design, and analysis of plasma devices.