Eur. Phys. J. D (2013) 67: 180
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2013-40126-2

Regular Article

Effects of hydrocarbon contamination on ozone generation with dielectric barrier discharges

¹ Department of Physics, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey, USA
² Degrémont Technologies, Ozonia, Dübendorf, Switzerland

^a e-mail: jose.lopez1@shu.edu
^b Present adress: Novartis, Schaffhausen, Switzerland.

Received: 6 March 2013
Received in final form: 1 June 2013
Published online: 19 August 2013

Abstract

The increasing usage of the feed gases of lower grade liquid oxygen (LOX) containing higher levels of trace hydrocarbon impurities in dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) for ozone generation requires a better understanding of the kinetics of the by-product formation resulting from reactions involving these hydrocarbon impurities. As a case study of hydrocarbon impurities, the kinetics of CH₄ conversion in DBDs and the subsequent HNO₃ formation were investigated by means of gas-phase plasma diagnostics, supported by detailed process modeling, and extensive in-situ and ex-situ by-product analysis. The by-products formation in the plasma with the presence of CH₄, were found to differ significantly in oxygen-fed generators as compared to generators fed with oxygen/nitrogen mixtures. The amount of HNO₃ formed depends on the concentration of NO_x formed in the plasma and the amount of CH₄ that is converted, but not on the O₃ concentration. In the present work we have investigated CH₄ concentrations of up to 1.95 wt% of the feed gas. The rate of deterioration of the overall ozone generator performance was found to be affected by the concentration of nitrogen in the oxygen/nitrogen mixture.