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Effect of input power and feeding concentration on MTBE decomposition using an RF plasma reactor
Author(s) -
Hsieh LienTe,
Fang GuorCheng,
Yang HsiHsien,
Wang YaFen,
Tsao MengChun
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of chemical technology and biotechnology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.64
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1097-4660
pISSN - 0268-2575
DOI - 10.1002/jctb.543
Subject(s) - decomposition , methyl tert butyl ether , chemistry , effluent , ether , volume (thermodynamics) , analytical chemistry (journal) , environmental chemistry , torr , environmental science , environmental engineering , organic chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , thermodynamics
The toxicology of the widely used oxygenated fuel additive methyl tert ‐butyl ether (MTBE) has recently attracted considerable interest in the public sector. In this study, a radio‐frequency (RF) plasma reactor was used to decompose MTBE gas. The effects of two important plasma operational parameters – including power consumption per unit volume of the plasma ( W D , W cm −3 ) and MTBE feeding concentration ( C MTBE , %) – for MTBE decomposition were investigated in detail. The results show that the MTBE decomposition efficiency (η MTBE ) increases with increasing W D and with decreasing C MTBE . In this study, the results reveal that, in the MTBE/Ar plasma, the η MTBE was over 99.9%, which occurred at the conditions of for W D = 0.96W cm −3 , C MTBE = 3%, 20 Torr of operational pressure and a 100 cm 3 · min −1 total gas flow rate. In particular, the effects of W D and C MTBE for the species detected in the effluent gas stream are carefully discussed. In addition, the deposition problem which occurred in the reactor was examined by means of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). © 2002 Society of Chemical Industry