Variable products in dielectric-barrier discharge assisted benzene oxidation

Atmospheric-pressure dielectric-barrier discharge (DBD) assisted control of benzene(g) oxidation into different classes of products is presented in this study. The gas-phase products were directly analyzed online by GC-FID and GC-MS. In addition, a solid yellowish surface deposit also formed, which was dissolved in 10 mL ethanol after each 10 min DBD cycle for GC analyses. One of the gas-phase products, phenol was also separately collected and estimated by Folin-Ciocalteu's wet-colorimetric method. In the gas phase only phenol and biphenyl were detected at maximum total conversion of ∼3%, while in the ethanolic solution furthermore 1,2- and 1,4-dihydroxybenzene, 2,2′-biphenol, 2- and 4-phenylphenol and 4-phenoxyphenol were estimated at μM to mM level, and reveal ∼30% total conversion. Products' types hint at the phenyl radical as the primary precursor. However, with the use of mesoporous molecular sieve 10X packing in unison with DBD, while the concentrations of such phenolic products decreased drastically, a number of open chain and non-aromatic ethers, aldehydes and esters, and also naphthalene and biphenylene were formed. In addition to high DBD process efficiency, the latter results suggest modification of discharge characteristics, and also strong physicochemical effects of cavity size and surface property on the intermediate reactions therein. Thus, use of such packing highlights a novel and practical methodology for control of chemical reactions towards useful product types, vis-à-vis pollutant mitigation.