The VOC removal efficiency of the plasma-catalyst reactor was tested at the laboratory and real scale (HVAC test bench).
At the laboratory scale, 1 g of catalyst was used at a flow rate of 315 mL/min. The catalyst is located downstream to the plasma zone. The energy density used in plasma was maintained at 35 Wh/m3. The toluene concentration was 240 ppm.
Four catalysts formed by gold nanoparticles supported on active carbon were tested and compared to the effect of the plasma alone. The catalyst are:
- pure active carbon used without pretreatment (AC)
- Au (0.5 wt%) supported on active carbon (0.5Au/AC)
- active carbon without gold but after the same treatment than 0.5Au/AC
- Au(0.8 wt%) supported on active carbon supplied by World Gold Council (0.8AuWGC)
Compared to the plasma alone (toluene removal=45%), the use of a catalyst increases the toluene removal to more than 90%. Simultaneously, an increase in the CO2 selectivity was observed. The residual ozone concentration was less than 1 ppb for 0.5Au/AC (1.7 ppm without catalyst).
At real scale (120 m3/h; 1 ppm of toluene, 0.15Wh/m3, 20W, 25°C, RH=19%, 140 g of catalyst), the initial efficiency of the system plasma-catalyst (0.1Au/AC) was not higher than the performances of the AC filter alone (toluene removal=80%), but after more than 300 min in stream, the plasma-catalyst system presents stabilized efficiency at >70%, whereas the efficiency of the active carbon filter alone (less than 50%) continuously decreases with time on stream.