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Plasma methods for the clean-up of organic liquid waste

Prantsidou, Maria

[Thesis]. Manchester, UK: The University of Manchester; 2014.

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Abstract

This thesis has studied the low-temperature atmospheric pressure plasma as a potential technological application for the degradation of waste oils. The study has been approached initially by investigating the degradation of oil in gas phase only, in order to understand the gas chemistry and elucidate the plasma-chemical degradation mechanism. Gaseous odourless kerosene and dodecane have been used as simulants to waste oil and their plasma-chemical degradation has been studied using a BaTiO3 packed bed plasma reactor and a gliding arc discharge reactor. Kerosene showed similar degradation behaviour to dodecane and the latter one was chosen as a surrogate to allow quantitative analysis. The dodecane plasma degradation efficiency and the distribution of end-gaseous products have been studied under these two reactors in different gas compositions. Optical emission spectroscopy was used to identify intermediate excited species and calculate the rotational and vibrational temperature profiles. Differences in the dodecane degradation gas chemistry between the packed bed and the gliding arc plasma are discussed and postulated mechanisms are presented for each condition. Gliding arc discharge demonstrates higher degradation efficiency and it will be used mainly for the plasma-liquid treatment. The plasma-liquid dodecane treatment is firstly studied using argon dielectric barrier discharge. The effect of different reactor configuration, humidity and temperature to the discharge characteristics and degradation efficiency will be discussed. The study of the liquid dodecane degradation is extended by using the gliding arc discharge. Using N2 and Ar in both dry and humid conditions for the batch treatment of dodecane, the degradation efficiency, gas chemistry and liquid chemistry are discussed and correlated to the gas chemistry observed during the plasma treatment of gaseous dodecane under the same conditions, in order to gain an overall understanding of the plasma-liquid clean-up process.Finally, the gliding arc plasma treatment of liquid dodecane is studied using the recycling method and shows a significant improvement to the degradation efficiency.

Layman's Abstract

This thesis has studied the degradation of waste oils using low-temperature atmospheric pressure plasma The study has been approached initially by investigating the degradation of oil in gas phase only, in order to understand the gas chemistry and elucidate the plasma-chemical degradation mechanism. Gaseous odourless kerosene and dodecane are common spent oils found in power plants and they have been used as simulants. Their plasma-chemical degradation has been studied using a BaTiO3 packed bed plasma reactor and a gliding arc discharge reactor. Kerosene showed similar degradation behaviour to dodecane and the latter one was chosen as a surrogate to allow quantitative analysis. The dodecane plasma degradation efficiency and the distribution of end-gaseous products have been studied under these two reactors in different gas compositions. The gaseous dodecane degradation chemistry is discussed and compared with postulated mechanisms presented for both reactors in each condition. Gliding arc discharge demonstrates higher degradation efficiency and it will be used mainly for the plasma-liquid treatment. The plasma-liquid dodecane treatment is firstly studied using argon dielectric barrier discharge. The effect of different reactor configuration, humidity and temperature to the discharge characteristics and degradation efficiency will be discussed. The study of liquid dodecane degradation is extended by using the gliding arc discharge. Using nitrogen and argon in both dry and humid conditions for the batch treatment of dodecane, the degradation efficiency, gas chemistry and liquid chemistry are discussed and correlated to the gas chemistry observed during the plasma treatment of gaseous dodecane under the same conditions, in order to gain an overall understanding of the plasma-liquid clean-up process. Finally, the gliding arc plasma treatment of liquid dodecane is studied using the recycling method and shows a significant improvement to the degradation efficiency.

Bibliographic metadata

Type of resource:
Content type:
Form of thesis:
Type of submission:
Degree type:
Doctor of Philosophy
Degree programme:
PhD Chemistry (42 month)
Publication date:
Location:
Manchester, UK
Total pages:
210
Abstract:
This thesis has studied the low-temperature atmospheric pressure plasma as a potential technological application for the degradation of waste oils. The study has been approached initially by investigating the degradation of oil in gas phase only, in order to understand the gas chemistry and elucidate the plasma-chemical degradation mechanism. Gaseous odourless kerosene and dodecane have been used as simulants to waste oil and their plasma-chemical degradation has been studied using a BaTiO3 packed bed plasma reactor and a gliding arc discharge reactor. Kerosene showed similar degradation behaviour to dodecane and the latter one was chosen as a surrogate to allow quantitative analysis. The dodecane plasma degradation efficiency and the distribution of end-gaseous products have been studied under these two reactors in different gas compositions. Optical emission spectroscopy was used to identify intermediate excited species and calculate the rotational and vibrational temperature profiles. Differences in the dodecane degradation gas chemistry between the packed bed and the gliding arc plasma are discussed and postulated mechanisms are presented for each condition. Gliding arc discharge demonstrates higher degradation efficiency and it will be used mainly for the plasma-liquid treatment. The plasma-liquid dodecane treatment is firstly studied using argon dielectric barrier discharge. The effect of different reactor configuration, humidity and temperature to the discharge characteristics and degradation efficiency will be discussed. The study of the liquid dodecane degradation is extended by using the gliding arc discharge. Using N2 and Ar in both dry and humid conditions for the batch treatment of dodecane, the degradation efficiency, gas chemistry and liquid chemistry are discussed and correlated to the gas chemistry observed during the plasma treatment of gaseous dodecane under the same conditions, in order to gain an overall understanding of the plasma-liquid clean-up process.Finally, the gliding arc plasma treatment of liquid dodecane is studied using the recycling method and shows a significant improvement to the degradation efficiency.
Layman's abstract:
This thesis has studied the degradation of waste oils using low-temperature atmospheric pressure plasma The study has been approached initially by investigating the degradation of oil in gas phase only, in order to understand the gas chemistry and elucidate the plasma-chemical degradation mechanism. Gaseous odourless kerosene and dodecane are common spent oils found in power plants and they have been used as simulants. Their plasma-chemical degradation has been studied using a BaTiO3 packed bed plasma reactor and a gliding arc discharge reactor. Kerosene showed similar degradation behaviour to dodecane and the latter one was chosen as a surrogate to allow quantitative analysis. The dodecane plasma degradation efficiency and the distribution of end-gaseous products have been studied under these two reactors in different gas compositions. The gaseous dodecane degradation chemistry is discussed and compared with postulated mechanisms presented for both reactors in each condition. Gliding arc discharge demonstrates higher degradation efficiency and it will be used mainly for the plasma-liquid treatment. The plasma-liquid dodecane treatment is firstly studied using argon dielectric barrier discharge. The effect of different reactor configuration, humidity and temperature to the discharge characteristics and degradation efficiency will be discussed. The study of liquid dodecane degradation is extended by using the gliding arc discharge. Using nitrogen and argon in both dry and humid conditions for the batch treatment of dodecane, the degradation efficiency, gas chemistry and liquid chemistry are discussed and correlated to the gas chemistry observed during the plasma treatment of gaseous dodecane under the same conditions, in order to gain an overall understanding of the plasma-liquid clean-up process. Finally, the gliding arc plasma treatment of liquid dodecane is studied using the recycling method and shows a significant improvement to the degradation efficiency.
Additional digital content not deposited electronically:
none
Non-digital content not deposited electronically:
none
Thesis main supervisor(s):
Language:
en

Record metadata

Manchester eScholar ID:
uk-ac-man-scw:220784
Created by:
Prantsidou, Maria
Created:
7th March, 2014, 08:28:24
Last modified by:
Prantsidou, Maria
Last modified:
10th July, 2014, 09:49:09

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