The inactivation of Chlorella spp. with dielectric barrier discharge in gas-liquid mixture

The inactivation of Chlorella spp. with high voltage and frequency pulsed dielectric barrier discharge in hybrid gas-liquid reactor with a suspension electrode was studied experimentally. In the hybrid gas-liquid reactor, a steel plate was used as high voltage electrode while a quartz plate as a dielectric layer, another steel plate placing in the aqueous solution worked as a whole ground electrode. A suspension electrode is installed near the surface of solution between high voltage and ground electrode to make the dielectric barrier discharge uniform and stable, the discharge gap was between the quartz plate and the surface of the water. The effect of peak voltage, treatment time, the initial concentration of Chlorella spp. and conductivity of solution on the inactivation rate of Chlorella spp. was investigated, and the inactivation mechanism of Chlorella spp. preliminarily was studied. Utilizing this system inactivation of Chlorella spp., the inactivation rate increased with increasing of peak voltage, treatment time and electric conductivity. It was found that the inactivation rate of Chlorella spp. arrived at 100% when the initial concentration was 4 × 106 cells mL−1, and the optimum operation condition required a peak voltage of 20 kV, a treatment time of 10 min and a frequency of 7 kHz. Though the increasing of initial concentration of the Chlorella spp. contributed to the addition of interaction probability between the Chlorella spp. and O3, H2O2, high-energy electrons, UV radiation and other active substances, the total inactivation number raise, but the inactivation rate of the Chlorella spp. decreased.