Role of Nitrogen Metastable States in Non-Thermal Plasma Conversion of Volatile Organic Compounds

S. Pasquiers, W. Faider, N. Blin-Simiand, L. Magne, P. Jeanney, F. Jorand

Laboratoire de Physique des Gaz et des Plasmas, Universitテゥ Paris-Sud and CNRS, bテ「t.210, 91405 Orsay cedex

Abstract— The conversion of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde is studied in N2 and in N2/O2 mixtures energized by a dielectric barrier (filamentary plasma) or a photo-triggered (homogeneous plasma) discharges. In these high pressure non-thermal plasmas and at low temperature, it is shown that the dissociation of these molecules due to collisional quenching of the nitrogen metastable excited states can play a non-negligible role in both mixture types (with or without oxygen). The formaldehyde removal efficiency decreases as soon as some oxygen is added to the mixture. This is not the case for acetaldehyde. A kinetic explanation for this difference is proposed.

Keywords— Formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, quenching of nitrogen metastable states, dielectric barrier discharge, photo-triggered discharge



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