Optimizing The Efficiency of a Dielectric Barrier Discharge Reactor for Removal of Nitric Oxides in Gas Phase

A dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor was built and used to remove nitric oxides in gas phase. In the preliminary work, it was found that the DBD reactor can used for direct processing of contaminated air stream. It was observed that if the applied energy is sufficiently high, reduction can overcome the oxidation process. The other characteristics that can affect the efficiency of the reactor are the processing flow rate, number of DBD tubes used and how the tubes are connected. The composition of the feed gas also plays important role. To improve the efficiency, more tubes were added and configured in combination of serial and parallel connections to achieve the best result. The reactor was found to be most efficient when using 6 tubes configured to have 2 sets of 3 tubes in series connected in parallel. The maximum flow rate that can be treated is 5 scfh. When operated with the optimum input voltage of 32 kV, the reactor can remove up to 80 % nitric oxide in the reduction mode. This means that the energy is sufficiently high to sustain the reduction mode and prevent further oxidation. (author)