Oxidation of ethylene in a plasma environment

Abstract

The oxidation of ethylene under plasma environment with a corona discharge was investigated in a wire and plate reactor with and without TiO2. The TiO2 coated on glass wool was used in this study. All the experiments were carried out under atmospheric pressure and room temperature. The results show that more than 95% ethylene was converted to CO2 and CO at the flow rates lower than 40 ml/min. The ethylene conversion and the Co2 selectivity were significantly increased with increasing the applied power and the gap distance. The combination of TiO2 and coronal discharge resulted in more possibility to convert ethylene to CO2. In the presence of TiO2, the ethylene conversion and CO2 selectivity were increased 4% and 20%, respectively. The increase in both ethylene conversion and CO2 selectivity may be attributed to the activation of TiO2 by the UV light generated from plasma.