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THERMAL PLASMA DECOMPOSITION OF FLUORINATED GREENHOUSE GASES

  • Choi, Soo-Seok (Department of Environmental Chemistry and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology) ;
  • Park, Dong-Wha (Department of Chemical Engineering and Regional Innovation Center for Environmental Technology of Thermal Plasma (RIC-ETTP), Inha University) ;
  • Watanabe, Takyuki (Department of Environmental Chemistry and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology)
  • Received : 2011.12.31
  • Published : 2012.02.25

Abstract

Fluorinated compounds mainly used in the semiconductor industry are potent greenhouse gases. Recently, thermal plasma gas scrubbers have been gradually replacing conventional burn-wet type gas scrubbers which are based on the combustion of fossil fuels because high conversion efficiency and control of byproduct generation are achievable in chemically reactive high temperature thermal plasma. Chemical equilibrium composition at high temperature and numerical analysis on a complex thermal flow in the thermal plasma decomposition system are used to predict the process of thermal decomposition of fluorinated gas. In order to increase economic feasibility of the thermal plasma decomposition process, increase of thermal efficiency of the plasma torch and enhancement of gas mixing between the thermal plasma jet and waste gas are discussed. In addition, noble thermal plasma systems to be applied in the thermal plasma gas treatment are introduced in the present paper.

Keywords

References

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