Nonthermal Plasma Destruction of Trifluoromethane Using a Dielectric-Packed Bed Reactor

Nonthermal plasma destruction of trifluoromethane (CHF3) was investigated in a dielectric-packed bed reactor. The experimental parameters were oxygen content, input power, initial CHF3 concentration, argon content, packing material and feed gas flow rate, all of which largely affected the CHF3 destruction efficiency. The increases in the input power, the initial CHF3 concentration and the argon content increased the destruction efficiency while those in the oxygen content above 0.5%(v/v) and in the feed gas flow rate decreased it. As a packing material, alumina beads showed higher CHF3 destruction efficiency than glass beads. The principle CHF3 destruction products were found to be COF2 and CO2. Besides these compounds, nitrogen oxides such as NO2 and N2O were identified in the effluent. The main destruction pathways were elucidated with the identified byproducts. The experimental results showed that the dielectric-packed bed reactor was able to effectively destroy CHF3, suggesting that the nonthermal plasma can be a useful tool for the CHF3 destruction.