In-liquid arc plasma jet and its application to phenol degradation

Liu, Jing-Lin Lin; Park, Hyun-Woo; Hamdan, Ahmad; Cha, Min Suk

In-liquid arc plasma jet and its application to phenol degradation

Files

Liu+et+al_2018_J._Phys._D__Appl._Phys._10.1088_1361-6463_aaada2.pdf (1.83 MB)

Type

Article

Authors

Liu, Jing-Lin Lin
Park, Hyun-Woo
Hamdan, Ahmad

Cha, Min Suk

KAUST Department

Clean Combustion Research Center
Mechanical Engineering Program
Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) Division

Online Publication Date

2018-02-23

Print Publication Date

2018-03-21

Date

2018-02-23

Abstract

We present a new method for achieving chemical reactions induced by plasmas with liquids—an in-liquid arc plasma jet system—designed to have a few advantages over the existing methods. High-speed imaging and optical emission spectroscopy were adopted to highlight the physical aspects of the in-liquid arc plasma jet system, and the feasibility of the system was investigated in a wastewater treatment case with phenol as the model contaminant. We found that the specific energy input is a reasonable parameter by which to characterize the overall process. The phenol removal reaction could be modeled as a pseudo-first-order reaction, and the reaction constant became smaller as the phenol concentration increased. However, complete decomposition of the phenol into water and carbon dioxide required very high energy because the final intermediate, oxalic acid, is relatively stable. Detailed chemical and physical analyses, including byproducts, ions, solution acidity, and conductivity, were conducted to evaluate this new method for use in the appropriate applications.

Citation

Liu J-LL, Park H-W, Hamdan A, Cha MS (2018) In-liquid arc plasma jet and its application to phenol degradation. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/aaada2.

Acknowledgements

The research reported in this publication was supported by funding from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).