Application of dielectric dicharge based non-thermal plasma tool for treatment of wastewater

Recently the pharmaceutical compounds also called as "emerging pollutants" are becoming a vital class of pollutants due to their non-biodegradable nature. They are introduced into the food chain through aquatic life and suffer biomagnification thereafter, as a result of which they are of important concern. The methods conventionally applied hitherto for the treatment of water fail when applied for removal of such bio-recalcitrant compounds. Herein comes the importance and relevance of Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs). So as to make sure that the fluid after treatment that is let flow into the stream is safe from the environment point of view, detailed study and chemical analysis of the water after treatmentis done. This paper presents a review of the type of water pollutants degradable and treatable efficiently by Non-thermal Plasma (NTP) and recent works where application of NTP is studied for removal of persistent organic and bio-recalcitrant pollutants. The analytical measures and parameters to compute the degradation efficiency of NTP tool based waste water treatment is also reviewed making a comparative study with the efficacy of the conventional methods of treatment.