Supplemental Material
Note: Gliding arc discharges with phase-chopped voltage supply for enhancement of
energy efficiency in volatile organic compound decomposition
Z. Bo, a) E. K. Wu, J. H. Yan, Y. Chi, and K. F. Cen
State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Institute for Thermal Power
Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310027, China
S1. VOC decomposition calculation
The
VOC
decomposition
rate

(unit:
%)
was
calculated
as   (Cin  Cout ) / Cin  100% , where Cin is the inlet VOC concentration (unit: ppm;
800 ppm for the current work) and Cout is the outlet VOC concentration (unit: ppm),
respectively. To ensure the reliability and reproducibility, each discharge process
(meanwhile, the VOC decomposition process) was repeated four times, and the outlet
VOC concentration Cout was calculated as Cout  Cout  Cout , where Cout is the
average value and Cout is the error based upon the 955 confidence interval.
The outlet VOC concentration Cout was calculated as:
Cout  Cout  Cout
(3)
where Cout is the average value and Cout is the precision error.
Cout was calculated as:
n
Cout 
 Cout(i )
i 1
(4)
n
where n is the sample number, i.e., 4 in the current work.
Cout was calculated according to the Student t-Distribution:
Cout  t / 2

(5)
n
where tis 3.182 (degree of freedom is set as n-1=3), assuming a 95%
confidence level, i.e., 0.025; the sample variance was calculated as:
1
2
 1 n
2
 
(
C

C
)
 out(i ) out 
 n  1 i 1
(6)
S2. Specific energy yield calculation
The specific energy yield E
(unit:
107
J/mol)
was
calculated
as
E  22.4  298  36P /(273  QCin ) , where Cin is the inlet VOC concentration (unit:
ppm), P is the discharge plug-in power (unit: W) which was consumed from the
whole discharge network including the power supply, the plasma, and the transformer,
is the VOC decomposition rate (unit: %), and Q is the gas flow rate (unit: m3/h),
respectively.
S3. Long-life radical induced VOC decomposition
Table 1 Possible reactions involving O3/NO3 and VOCs, as well as O3/NO3 and some
intermediate products. Rate coefficient data at 298 K are cited from UPAC
subcommittee on gas kinetic data evaluation for atmospheric chemistry, see
http://www.iupac-kinetic.ch.cam.ac.uk.
No. Reaction
R1
R2
R3
R4
R5
R6
No.
C6 H 5CH 3 +NO3  products
k=(6.7  2.6)  10 cm molecule s
-17
3
C6 H 5CH 3 +O 3  products
k<1.0  10-21cm 3molecule -1s -1
CH 3 +O3  products
k=2.3  10-12cm 3molecule -1s-1
C 2 H 2 +NO 3  products
k<1  10 cm molecule s
-16
3
-1 -1
C 2 H 2 +O 3  products
k=1  10-20cm 3molecule -1s -1
ClO+O 3  ClOO+O 2
k=1.5  10-17cm 3molecule -1s-1
-1 -1
R7
R8
R9
R10
R11
R12
Reaction
ClO+NO3  OClO+O 2
k=1.2  10-13cm 3molecule -1s-1
C 2 H 4 +NO 3  products
k=2.1  10-16cm 3molecule -1s -1
C 2 H 4 +O 3  products
k=1.7  10-18cm 3molecule -1s -1
C3 H 6 +NO3  products
k=9.3  1.2  10-15cm 3molecule -1s-1
C3 H 6 +O 3  products
k=1.0  10-17cm 3molecule -1s -1
n-C 4 H 10 +NO 3  products
k=4.5  0.5  10-17cm 3molecule -1s-1