Degradation of surfactant by cold plasma treatment

Wastewaters gather growing quantities of chemicals compounds which are directly or indirectly harmful for humans by their noxious effects on aquatic life. This group of chemicals is typically illustrated by surfactant compounds (i.e. sodium dodecylsulphate, NaLS) which are usually recalcitrant molecules. The plasma-chemical degradation of NaLS results from exposing aqueous solutions of the aqueous target to a Gliding Arc discharge (a non-thermal quenched plasma) under room Temperature and Pressure conditions. A NaLS abatement by 90% is observed for 500 min exposure time after two successive kinetic steps (resp. zero and first orders). (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.