Nitrogen oxides and methane treatment by non-thermal plasma

Non thermal plasma was used to treat nitrogen oxides (NOx) and methane (CH₄), since they are important constituents of hydrocarbon combustion emissions processes and, both gases, play a key role in the formation of tropospheric ozone. These gases are involved in environmental problems like acid rain and some diseases such as bronchitis and pneumonia. In the case of methane is widely known its importance in the global climate change, and currently accounts for 30% of global warming.There is a growing concern for methane leaks, associated with a rapid expansion of unconventional oil and gas extraction techniques as well as a large-scale methane release from Arctic because of ice melting and the subsequent methane production of decaying organic matter. Therefore, methane mitigation is a key to avoid dangerous levels of global warming.The research, here reported, deals about the generation of non-thermal plasma with a double dielectric barrier (2DBD) at atmospheric pressure with alternating current (AC) for NOx and CH4 treatment. The degradation efficiencies and their respective power consumption for different reactor configurations (cylindrical and planar) are also reported.Qualitative and quantitative analysis of gases degradation are reported before and after treatment with cold plasma. Experimental and theoretical results are compared obtaining good removal efficiencies, superior to 90% and to 20% respectively for NO_x and CH₄. (paper)