Destruction of Chlorofluorocarbons in Non-Thermal Plasma
Stefani Kocevska
Dr. Lev Krasnoperov
New Jersey Institute of Technology
The project is directed towards studying the mechanism of destruction of
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). The research focuses on the efficiency of the destruction
of CH2ClF and CCl3F in a corona discharge - generated non-thermal plasma. The
destruction of CFCs was studied in a tubular dielectric barrier AC corona discharge
reactor coupled to an on-line quadrupole mass-spectrometer. The efficiency of the
destruction was studied as a function of the active power dissipated in the reactor and
the flow rate. The research showed that CH2ClF and CCl3F can be effectively destroyed
by corona discharges in non-thermal plasma at a concentration of 1000 ppm. The
results confirm the theory that destruction efficiencies are higher for compounds that
have lower ionization energies than molecular oxygen. The ionization energy of
molecular oxygen is 12.07 eV, and those of CH2ClF and CCl3F are 11.71 eV and 11.68
eV respectively. Lower concentration studies will be performed in the future, to test if the
destruction efficiency increases as the CFC concentration decreases. CFCs are known
as ozone depletion agents via the so-called chlorine catalytic cycle. The research
directly applies to the possible methods for utilization of CFC stockpiles and has
applications to atmospheric chemistry models.