Decomposition of carbon tetrachloride by a pulsed corona reactor incorporated with in situ absorption

The decomposition of carbon tetrachloride by a wire-in-tube pulsed corona reactor was tested to investigate the influence of the reaction agents H-2 and O-2 on the plasma decomposition of carbon tetrachloride, as well as on the control of unwanted products. It was found that the decomposition of carbon tetrachloride was higher with 2% H-2 in N-2 gas and lower with 2% O-2 in N-2 gas, compared to the decomposition in N-2 atmosphere. Cl-2 and ClCN were regarded as the major products from CCl4 decomposition in N-2 atmosphere. HCl was the major FTIR-detected product from CCl4 decomposition in a 2% H-2/N-2 gas mixture, whereas the products CO2, CO, and COCl2 were detected when carbon tetrachloride was decomposed in a 2% O-2/N-2 gas mixture. To prevent the production of unwanted byproducts such as ClCN and COCl2 from CCl4 decomposition, a combination of nonthermal plasma and in situ absorption by coating a layer of Ca(OH)(2) on the surface of the grounding electrode was proposed. It was demonstrated that the Ca(OH)(2) sorbent in the plasma reactor played an effective role as a, scavenger participating in the CCl4 decomposition, reaction by insitu capturing of the unwanted intermediates.