SBIR Phase I: Microwave-Induced Non-Thermal Plasma for Volatile Organic Compound Emission Control

有害空气污染物（HAP），特别是挥发性有机化合物（VOC）的排放日益受到关注，因为它们是造成我们今天面临的主要环境问题的主要原因，例如：全球变暖、臭氧消耗和光化学烟雾。随着1990年《清洁空气法修正案》（CAAA）的通过，该修正案要求加强对特定有机化合物的控制，对控制这些废物流的技术的理解和重大发展已得到授权。针对不同工艺过程中减少挥发性有机化合物排放的需求，我们提出了一种有效、低成本地破坏和去除挥发性有机化合物的创新方法。与其他通过提高污染气体温度燃烧VOC的传统方法不同，该方法利用非热等离子体的特性产生自由基，直接氧化废气中的VOC。这里提出的VOC氧化方法的潜力源于这样一个事实，即自由基与VOC分子以一种通常与非常高的温度相关的方式反应。在被污染的气体中会产生自由基。所建议的装置将在排气流中造成最小的压降（如果有的话）；此外，它唯一的能量需求是相对较低的磁控管平均功率供应。预计该设备将在广泛的温度范围内运行，并且无需维护。拟议的项目预计将导致一项新技术的发展，以消除废气中不受欢迎的挥发性有机化合物。所提出的方法可以方便地与几乎任何其他污染控制措施相结合。由于采用了“管道末端”方法，只需对现有排气系统和系统本身的操作进行轻微的修改，以适应新技术。

Emissions of hazardous air pollutants (HAP's), specifically volatile organic compounds(VOC's), are an increasing concern because they are major contributors to the predominant environmental problems facing us today such as: global warming, ozone depletion, andphotochemical smog.1-3 With the passage of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA),which require increased levels of control for specific organic compounds, theunderstanding and significant development of technologies for controlling these wastestreams have been mandated. Responding to the need to decrease VOC emission fromdifferent technological processes, we propose the development of an innovative method foran effective, low cost destruction and removal of VOC's. Unlike other conventionalmethods which burn VOC by raising the temperature of the contaminated gases, the proposedmethod uses properties of non-thermal plasma to generate free radicals to oxidize the VOCdirectly in the exhaust gas. The potential of the approach for VOC oxidation presentedhere stems from the fact that free radicals react with VOC molecules in a way normallyassociated with a very high temperature. The free radicals will be generated in thecontaminated gas. The proposed device will cause a minimal, if any, pressure drop in theexhaust stream; moreover, its only energy requirement is the relatively low average power supply to its magnetron. It is expected that this device will operate in a wide range of temperatures, and will be maintenance free. The proposed project is expected to result in the development of a new technology for removing undesirable VOC's from exhaust gases. The proposed method can be conveniently combined with virtually any other pollution-control measure. Due to the 'end-of-pipe' approach, only minor, if any, modifications in the operation of the existing exhaust system and in the system itself will be required to accommodate the new technique.