Radio-frequency-powered atmospheric pressure plasma jet for the destruction of binary mixture of naphthalene and n-butanol with Pt/Al2O3 catalyst

• Destruction of naphthalene and n-butanol by an rf-powered atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) and catalytic APPJ (CAPPJ) has been investigated.
• In the presence of Pt/Al2O3 catalyst with SV of 17,400 1/h, XNap and Xn-b can reach as high as 99%.
• Kinetics was predicted satisfactorily by reaction order of −1.5 and 1 for the APPJ and CAPPJ.
• The information obtained is useful for operation, design, and analysis of plasma devices.

A radio-frequency-powered atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) was produced in ambient air assisted by Ar carried gas for the decomposition of binary mixture of naphthalene (Nap) and n-butanol without and with Pt/Al2O3 catalyst. The mixed feed gas streams of Nap/n-butanol were used to simulate the background of vapor released from the source solution of Nap, such as gasoline and some industrial flue gases. The effects of some major system parameters such as input power, plasma energy density (E¯) and space velocity (SV) of catalyst on the plateau temperature (TP) of reactor and conversions of Nap (XNap) and n-butanol (Xn-b) were studied and elucidated. The results show that the effectiveness of the catalytic APPJ (CAPPJ) is evident as indicated by the increase of XNap and Xn-b and the rate constant. At E¯=3.75 kJ/L without catalyst, the values of XNap and Xn-b are 30 and 19%, respectively. In the presence of Pt/Al2O3 catalyst with SV = 17,400 1/h, XNap and Xn-b can reach as high as 99%. Note that the values of TP were 580 and 480 K without and with Pt/Al2O3 catalyst at SV = 17,400 1/h and E¯=3.75 kJ/L. The proposed kinetic models describe the relationships of XNap and Xn-b with the major parameters and reaction order of −1.5 and 1 for the APPJ and CAPPJ degradation of binary mixture of Nap and n-butanol, respectively, showing good agreement with the experimental data. The information obtained is useful for operation, design, and analysis of plasma devices.