Advanced Microwave Plasma Technology for Liquid Treatment

Recently, much attention has been given to plasma production under liquid and its applications [1]. However, most of plasma production techniques reported so far utilize high voltage dc, ac, rf or microwave power [2], where damage to discharge electrodes and small discharge volume are remained issues. As an alternative of plasma production method under liquid, we have proposed pulsed microwave excited plasma using slot antenna, where damage to the slot electrode can be minimized and plasma volume can be increased. We have also reported improvement of treatment efficiency with use of reduced-pressure condition during the discharge [3]. To realize low pressure conditions in liquid, various alternative technique can be considered. One possible technique is simultaneous injection of microwave power and ultrasonic wave. Ultrasonic wave induces pressure fluctuation with the wave propagation and is so far used for cavitation production in the water. We propose utilization of reduced pressure induced by ultrasonic cavitation for improvement of the plasma production. Correlation between the plasma production and the ultrasonic power will be discussed.