Zeolite and Red Mud Assisted Discharge Plasma Treatment of Diesel Engine Exhaust
Anusuya Bhattacharyya and B. S. Rajanikanth
Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, India
Abstract- In this paper, the treatment of NOx from the diesel engine exhaust is addressed by means of non-thermal plasma. A dielectric barrier discharge reactor with helical corona electrode, energized with power frequency AC, is used in cascade with an adsorbent/catalyst reactor. The adsorbent used in this case is NaZSM5, a zeolite with a pore size of 5 Å that is particularly suitable for adsorbing NOx. The catalyst used is red mud, an industrial waste obtained from the aluminum extraction process. Both adsorbent and catalyst exhibit high removal rate for NO2 thus enhancing the removal of NOx when the exhaust was pre-treated with plasma. The synergistic effect has been discussed.
Keywords- NaZSM5, zeolite, red mud, dielectric barrier discharge, helical reactor, diesel engine exhaust