This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will assist in the development of an innovative method for effective and low cost destruction and removal of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), specifically Halogenated Volatile Organic Compounds (HVOCs), using non-thermal plasma generated in microwave discharges. In the non-thermal technique described in this proposal, the non-equilibrium properties of the plasma are fully exploited. These plasmas can produce energetic electrons (typical energies of 1-10 eV), which effectively lead to the creation of free radicals without the necessity of adding the enthalpy associated with very high gas temperatures. Therefore, from the chemical point of view, destruction reaction rates normally associated with temperatures of 10,000 to 100,000 K can be realized with the gas near ambient temperature. The proposed technique utilizes the dissociation and ionization of the background gases to produce radicals that, in turn, destroy and decompose the toxic and hazardous compounds. The input energy of the system is directed mostly to the production of the desired density of radicals which react preferentially with the HVOCs that are often present in very small concentrations in the exhaust gas.
The proposed technology will meet a growing need in the semiconductor industry, and other HVOC sources for a simple and cost-effective method for the removal of hazardous compounds from the flue gas. The new method is likely to be successful due to its simplicity and the ease with which the gas-cleanup unit can be retrofitted to the existing combustion systems.
