Efficient removal of Basic Violet 16 by a multistage oxygen enhanced liquid glow discharge plasma system: Mechanism and roles of reactive species quantified by machine learning

A multistage oxygen enhanced Liquid Glow Discharge Plasma reactor (LGDP/multistage oxygen, LGDP/M-O2) was designed to improve the removal efficiency of organic dyes in wastewater. As a result of the multistage oxygen system, the degradation rate constant of Basic Violet 16 (BV16) was enhanced by approximately 18 times, the decolorization rate of BV16 was 97.39 % in 4 min, and the removal rate of TOC was 33.32 % in 10 min. Detailed study of how the system works to help break down pollutants. The reactive species series of experiments showed that multistage oxygen injection strongly promoted reactive species production and utilization. Meanwhile, a machine learning model to quantify the contribution of reactants was proposed. Machine learning indicated the dominating contribution of reactive oxygen species (63.89 %) and reactive chlorine species (21.92 %) in the degradation of BV16. In addition, the transformation intermediates during the degradation of BV16 were monitored. Accordingly, three possible degradation pathways of BV16 in the LGDP/M-O2 system were proposed, i.e., benzene ring substitution of hydroxyl groups, hydroxyl addition of C=C double bond, and halogenation of benzene rings. This study demonstrates the importance of the LGDP/M-O2 system for organic dye removal from wastewater.