Abstract
Destruction process of toluene using a wire-cylindrical BBD (Dielectric Barrier Discharge) reactor packed with catalysts was investigated to characterize the synergetic effects of non-thermal plasma and catalyst process. The catalysts used in the present study were ${\gamma}$-Al$_2$BO$_3$ and Pt/${\gamma}$-Al$_2$O$_3$. Under the numerous test conditions, specific energy density (SED (J/L)) and the conversion of toluene, defined as (1 -[C$_{f}$]/[C$_{i}$]), were measured. The test results showed that toluene decomposition efficiency followed the pseudo-first order in the case of plasma only process. The pseudo-first order process, however, was modified to pseudo-zeroth order reaction in the case of catalyst-assisted plasma process. This modification of the reaction order was verified based on a simple kinetic model proposed in the present study. Owing to the modification of reaction order, which resulted from the catalytic process, the specific energy to achieve the high removal efficiencies, i.e. 80~90%, was reduced significantly.y.y.