Investigation of fuchsine solution degradation by DC atmospheric pressure air discharge plasma

In this study, results of degradation of fuchsine solution are presented by using direct current (DC) atmospheric pressure air discharge plasma. The maximum absorption at 542 nm was reduced from 10.376 to 0.062 after 15 minutes plasma treatment, corresponding to the reduction of fuchsine solution concentration from 100 mg/L down to 1.419 mg/L, which indicated that the degradation efficiency is as high as 98.51%. A notable decreasing of degradation efficiency caused from the adding of sodium carbonate suggests that free radical species is a main factor accounting for the fuchsine solution degradation. The experimental results also reveal that the solution conductivity was increased with treatment time, while the solution PH was decreased, which may show that large amount of inorganic species, such as NO3- and H+, were produced. Within the current paper, it can be concluded that the DC atmospheric pressure air discharge plasma is capable of an efficient technology for the degradation of dye wastewater.