Decomposition of Volatile Organic Compounds at Low Concentrations Using Combination of Densification by Zeolite Adsorption and Dielectric Barrier Discharge

Abstract

The decomposition of toluene at very low concentrations (10–20 ppm) using a combination of densification by zeolite adsorption and dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) was investigated. The characteristics of toluene decomposition using DBD under open and closed-loop flow conditions were determined. Under the closed-loop gas flow condition, a high decomposition ratio (70–93%) and a high energy efficiency [8–19 g/(kW h)] were achieved for the adsorbed toluene (63% of the initial amount) by DBD treatment even at a high flow rate of 150 L/min. Also, by the periodic operation of adsorption/DBD treatment, it was demonstrated that DBD treatment regenerated the honeycomb sheet containing zeolites for subsequent adsorption. The usefulness of this method for the decomposition of hazardous materials at low concentrations was shown.