Ozone Production in a High Frequency Dielectric Barrier Discharge Generator

Factors that affect the performance of an expanded-mesh dielectric barrier discharge ozone cell were investigated. A gas feed pf 94% O₂, 4% Ar and 1% N₂ was used. An improvement in the productivity (g ozone/kWh) of about 20 % was achieved by doubling the gas flow rate through the cell. Decreasing the cell operating frequency (in the range 72 kHz to 19 kHz) increased the productivity of the ozone generator at constant power. The ozone production increased approximately in proportion to the input power; however productivity did not vary significantly with power above a minimum level. As the cell voltage was increased the dependence of productivity on power or frequency was reduced. Changing the feed gas temperature between ? 5^°C and + 42^°C had no effect on productivity. Finer meshes drew more power than coarser ones for a given voltage. Using a thinner mesh for the centre electrode increased productivity. The best results were obtained with a 6 × 3 × 1.86 mm titanium mesh giving a productivity of 110 g ozone/kWhr at 30–60 W, 1500–1900V and 23 KHz.     

Experimental Study of Ozone Generation by Negative Corona Discharge in Mixtures of N2 and O2

Ozone generation by negative DC corona discharge in N₂-O₂ mixtures has been experimentally investigated using a coaxial wire-cylinder corona reactor operating at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. The experiments have been carried out under different gas flows (15 cm³ min^?1 to 200 cm³ min^?1) and gas compositions (5% to 90% of O₂), and the effect of these parameters on the corona current, the ozone density and the efficiency of the ozone generator have been analyzed. The global rate coefficients for ozone formation and destruction have also been evaluated, and their values compared with those reported by other authors. The maximum efficiency for ozone production was found in gas mixtures with oxygen content about 70–80%.     

Ozone Production Influenced by Increasing Gas Pressure in Multichannel Dielectric Barrier Discharge for Positive and Negative Pulse Modes

This paper describes the influence of gas pressure on the conversion of O₂ to O₃ and the ozone production efficiency in a multichannel dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor utilizing positive and negative pulses. Results show that conversion of O₂ to O₃ is continuously enhanced by the increase of gas pressure (0.1–0.24 MPa) while the rising speed of oxygen conversion with the increasing gas pressure at fixed specific input energy is reduced above 0.15 MPa. The maximum ozone generation efficiency is increased with increasing gas pressure (0–0.2 MPa) while positive pulse exhibits higher energy efficiency. The maximum ozone generation efficiency is suppressed with further increase of gas pressure (0.2–0.24 MPa) while no significant difference in ozone generation efficiency is observed for two unipolar pulse modes. Results also show that 0.2 MPa is the optimal working gas pressure to obtain the maximum ozone generation efficiency and increasing gas pressure would lead to remarkable increase of ozone generation efficiency for ozone production at high energy densities in multichannel DBD.     

Research Note: Penetration of Ozone Gas Across the Shell of Hen Eggs

Increasing evidence indicates that ozone gas is effective against Salmonella on and within shell eggs. However, information on the penetration of ozone across egg shell is limited. In this study, whole hen egg shells, filled with indigotrisulfonate solution (OD₆₀₀ ～1), were exposed to ozone gas (12–14% wt/wt O₃ in O₂) at 1.5 liters/min and atmospheric pressure for ≤ 40 min with appropriate controls. Ozone penetrated the shells over time (r²?=?0.9974) causing indigo decoloration and increasing its transmittance from 16 to 28% after gas exposure for 40 min. This study confirms ozone penetration through egg shell using a simple qualitative technique.     

Assessment of Microwave/UV/O<Subscript>3</Subscript> in the Photo-Catalytic Degradation of Bromothymol Blue in Aqueous Nano TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> Particles Dispersions

In this study, a microwave/UV/TiO₂/ozone/H₂O₂ hybrid process system, in which various techniques that have been used for water treatment are combined, is evaluated to develop an advanced technology to treat non-biodegradable water pollutants efficiently. In particular, the objective of this study is to develop a novel advanced oxidation process that overcomes the limitations of existing single-process water treatment methods by adding microwave irradiation to maximize the formation of active intermediate products, e.g., OH radicals, with the aid of UV irradiation by microwave discharge electrodeless lamp, photo-catalysts, and auxiliary oxidants. The results of photo-catalytic degradation of BTB showed that the decomposition rate increased with the TiO₂ particle dosages and microwave intensity. When an auxiliary oxidant such as ozone or hydrogen peroxide was added to the microwave-assisted photo-catalysis, however, a synergy effect that enhanced the reaction rate considerably was observed.     

Evaluation of Decolorization,Mineralization, and Toxicity Reduction of Tropaeolin O in Water by Ozonation with UV Irradiation

The combination of ozonation with UV irradiation can remove Tropaeolin O (AO6) and its by-products effectively and completely. The ozone dose affects the rate of decolorization, AO6 species removal, and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) reduction significantly. After 240 minutes of ozonation, the average DOC removal efficiency (η_DOC) for O₃ alone was about 0.79, while η_DOC for O₃/UV was 1.0. The average DOC removal rate was low at early stage of ozonation due to decolorization and low DOC. At later stage of ozonation, average DOC removal rate decreases because of the formation of persistent intermediates. The ozone consumption was consistent with η_DOC. The ratio of ozone consumption to ozone applied decreased from 14 to 12% when η_DOC < 40% because the decolorization in the early stage of the ozonation of AO6 may consume a relatively large amount of ozone. It was found that NO₂, NO, CO₂, and small amount of SO₂ was detected in the off-gas. The effective concentration (EC50) increased from 23.48% to 100%, suggesting that the toxic reduction was achieved, and O₃/UV system was superior to O₃ alone system     

ELIMINATION OF BENZENE AND CHLOROBENZENES BY PHOTODEGRADATION AND OZONATION PROCESSES

Benzene (B) and two representative chlorobenzenes (1,4-dichlorobenzene (DCB) and 1,2,3-trichlorobenzene (TCB)) were oxidized by means of UV irradiation alone, ozone alone, and the combinations UV/H₂O₂ and O₃/H₂O₂. In the single photolytic process, the influence on the photodegradation of the pH, temperature, and type of radiation source used was established. A kinetic study was performed by evaluating the first-order rate constants and the quantum yields. The effect of the additional presence of hydrogen peroxide was pointed out in the combined process UV/H₂O₂,with the determination of the specific contribution of the radical pathway to the overall photodegradation system. In the oxidation by ozone based systems (ozone alone and the combination O₃/H₂O₂), the rate constants at 20°C for the reaction of each compound with ozone and hydroxyl radicals were determined.     

Oxidation of 1,3,5‐trichlorobenzene using advanced oxidation processes

The oxidation of 1,3,5‐trichlorobenzene (TCB) by ozone, ozone/UV, ozone/H₂O₂ and ozone/UV/H₂O₂ was studied. All studies were conducted in a continuously‐flowing completely mixed reactor (CFCMR), operated at steady‐state conditions using a hydraulic retention time of 10 minutes. The greatest removal of TCB using ozone/H₂O₂ treatment was achieved using a H₂O₂ concentration of 60 μM. At low pH values (approx. 2) ozone/UV performed significantly better than either ozone alone or ozone/H₂O₂. However, at circumneutral pH, the removal efficiencies of TCB by ozone/UV and ozone/H₂O₂ and ozone/UV/H₂O₂ were essentially equal (～ 97% for TCB). The removal efficiency of ozone alone was ～93% for TCB. At high pH (> 9) there was no advantage in supplementing ozone with either UV or H₂O₂ as the removal efficiencies for all processes studied were essentially equal.

The effect of humic acid and bicarbonate on the removal of TCB was studied. At 1.6 mg/L humic acid, 92–95% of the TCB was oxidized by the processes studied. The removal of TCB by ozone alone was significantly affected by the presence of bicarbonate ion. For the other processes at 10 mM bicarbonate, approximately 80% of the TCB was oxidized.     

Ozone Biological Response in Kidneys of Rats Submitted to Warm Ischemia

A biochemical and morphofunctional renal study, applying different sessions of rectal ozone (O₃) before a warm ischemia, was performed. Rats were divided in: 1-control, a medial abdominal incision was performed for the exposure of the kidneys; 2-ischemia, animals with a bilateral renal ischemia (30?min), with subsequent reperfusion (3?h); groups 3, 4 and 5 – (O₃+ischemia), as group 2, but with previously treatment of 5, 10 and 15 sessions of rectal ozone, respectively; groups 6, 7 and 8 – (O₂+ischemia), as groups 3, 4 and 5, respectively, but using rectal oxygen. A significant decrease of the flow and renal filtration, with high values of fructosamine and phospholipase A₂, in the ischemia and oxygen groups, with respect to control and ozone groups was obtained without any statistical difference among them. Morphological alterations were significantly less in the groups pretreated with ozone, with better results for 10 and 15 sessions.     

Ozone Generation in Air by a DC-Excited Multi-Pin-to-Plane Plasma Source

In the fields of material processing and environmental technology, atmospheric pressure non-thermal plasmas embrace a broad range of applications. Ozone generation is one of them. This paper discusses a DC-excited atmospheric pressure glow discharge in a multi-pin-to-plane electrode configuration for the production of ozone in air. The influence of discharge current, temperature, flow rate and air humidity is investigated. A simple model is proposed to predict the experimental results for the ozone production and ozone concentrations.     

Production Of Ozone in an Electrical Discharge Using Inert Gases as Catalysts

The catalytic role of using inert gases to increase the efficiency and lower the power cost of producing ozone (O₃) from high purity oxygen (O₂) in a process incorporating an electrical discharge is demonstrated. Three inert gases (Ar, Ne, He) and N₂ are individually mixed with O₂ and the results presented. The increase in ozone production is partially attributed to the increase in electron density provided by the ionization of the inert gas in the discharge.     

The Benefits of Small Quantities of Nitrogen in the Oxygen Feed to Ozone Generators

This paper reports the ozone generation in pulsed multichannel dielectric barrier discharge. The influence of nitrogen addition (0.1%–10%) on ozone concentration and ozone generation efficiency in nitrogen–oxygen gas mixtures is studied. Results show that adding 0.1% N₂ would not seriously increase the ozone production. Meanwhile, 1% N₂ content exhibits the highest ozone production efficiency in low SIE (J/L, defined as the ratio of power to gas flow rate) region (0–200 J/L) while adding 0.3% N₂ would lead to the highest ozone generation efficiency in high SIE region (300–800 J/L). The increase of ozone production induced by N₂ addition is more significant in low SIE region compared with that in high SIE region. At 100 J/L, ozone production efficiency increases 26.9% to 201.6 g/kWh with 1% N₂ addition when compared with that in oxygen. At 18 J/L, the observed maximum ozone generation efficiency reaches 252 g/kWh at 1.3 g/Nm³ with 1% N₂ addition. An increase of ozone production can be obtained with 0.3%–2% N₂ addition in all explored SIE ranges.     

Effects of Ozone-Gas Bubble Size and pH on Ozone/UV Treatment

A series of ozone/UV treatment under injection of ozone with different ozone-gas bubble sizes was performed at pH 1.7 and 7.4. The increase in the bubble size and the decrease in pH enhanced the ozone utilization efficiency. The enhancement of ozone utilization efficiency was caused by the shift of the production pathway of hydroxyl radical (OH) from the OH production via O₃ ^– to the UV photolysis of H₂O₂. The lower pH caused this shift through the chemical equilibrium of H₂O₂ and HO₂ ^–, and the large bubbles caused this shift through the augmentation of H₂O₂ transport from the bubble surface to the bulk solution.     

Kinetic Modeling of Ozone Generation via Dielectric Barrier Discharges

A mathematical model combining chemical kinetic and reactor geometry is developed for ozone synthesis in dry O₂ streams with a wire-tube dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor. Good agreement is found between the predicted ozone concentrations and experimental data. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to elucidate the relative importance of individual reactions. Results indicate that the ground-state oxygen atom is the most important species for O₃ generation; however, ozone generation will be inhibited if the O atom is overdosed. The excited species, that is, O(¹ D) and O₂(b ¹Σ), can decompose O₃ and suppress ozone synthesis. The model developed is then applied to modify the original DBD reactor design for the enhancement of ozone yield. With a thinner dielectric thickness, more than 10% increase of ozone concentration is achieved.     

Degradation of phenolic aqueous solutions by high frequency sono-Fenton systems (US–Fe2O3/SBA-15–H2O2)

The aim of this work is to establish the influence of different ultrasonic frequencies ranging from 20 to 1142 kHz on the efficiency of the US/Fe₂O₃/SBA-15/H₂O₂ (sono-Fenton) system. The frequency of 584 kHz has been established as the optimum ultrasonic irradiation for the degradation of aqueous phenol solutions by the sono-Fenton system and the effect of different variables, such as hydrogen peroxide concentration or catalyst loadings in the reaction was studied by factorial design of experiments. Catalyst loadings of 0.6 g/L and hydrogen peroxide concentration, close to the stoichiometric amount, show high organic mineralization, accompanied by excellent catalyst stability in a wide range of concentrations of aqueous phenol solutions (0.625–10 mM). Additionally, the catalyst can be easily recovered by filtration for reuse in subsequent reactions without appreciable loss of activity. The coupling of US (584 kHz)/Fe–SBA-15/H₂O₂ at room temperature is revealed as a promising technique for wastewater treatment. Additionally, a new sono-Fenton variant, the so-called latent remediation has also been studied, using ultrasonic irradiation only as pretreatment for 15 min in an attempt at reducing the cost of the degradation process. It has been observed that latent remediation provides TOC degradation of around 21% after 15 min sonication followed by 6 h silent reaction while the typical sono-Fenton reaction affords 29% TOC reduction after 6 h sonication.     

Experimental Study on Ozone Synthesis via Dielectric Barrier Discharges

The characteristics of ozone generation using a dielectric barrier discharge reactor were investigated experimentally. Results indicate that ozone concentration increases with increasing applied voltage and gas residence time. In addition to applied voltage, ozone generation rate varies with reactor configuration as well. Optimum ozone generation rates can be reached at the specific gas residence time for a given applied voltage and gas composition. At the same applied voltage, the reactor with a single dielectric barrier results in a higher ozone generation rate in comparison with the reactor having double dielectric barriers. Given a constant N₂/O₂ ratio in the feed gas, NO_x concentration increases as applied voltage and gas residence time increase. Results indicate that maximum NO_x concentration is reached when the N₂/O₂ ratio of feed gas is 4.     

Evaluation of O3/UV and O3/H2O2 as Practical Advanced Oxidation Processes for Degradation of 1,4-Dioxane

The degradation of 1,4-dioxane was investigated on a laboratory scale. The extents of degradation and/or removal of 1,4-dioxane by ozonation at pH 6–8, UV irradiation, aeration, and addition of H₂O₂ were very limited. On the other hand, the degradation of 1,4-dioxane by O₃/UV and O₃/H₂O₂ was accelerated compared with the above respective methods. The amounts of 1,4-dioxane degraded per amount of ozone consumed in O₃/UV and O₃/H₂O₂ were also higher than in ozonation. The amount of 1,4-dioxane degraded in O₃/UV was affected by the intensity of UV irradiation, and that in O₃/H₂O₂ was affected by the amount of H₂O₂ added only in the case of a high initial concentration of 1,4-dioxane.     

Energy Conversion and Temperature Dependence in Ozone Generator Using Pulsed Discharge in Oxygen

A detailed reaction kinetic model consisting of 10 species and 63 reactions is developed to investigate the energy conversion and temperature dependence in an ozone generator using oxygen pulsed discharge. The energy conversion ratios of total electric energy converted into reaction heat, heat carried by gas and heat loss to ambient, namely η_reaction, η_gas and η_loss, are obtained for the first time. The ratio of reaction heat η_reaction decreases substantially with increasing specific energy and inlet gas temperature, which represents how much energy is utilized effectively to synthesize ozone. Correspondingly, η_loss and η_gas increase gradually. η_reaction declines from 55.4% to 27.7% at inlet gas temperature of 298 K when specific energy changes from 0.06 J/cm³ to 0.78 J/cm³. The detailed reaction pathway including the degree of transformation among species for ozone formation is also obtained via kinetics simulation. Meanwhile, sensitivity analysis and rate-of-production analysis for the four most important species O₃, O, O(1D) and O₂(b¹∑) obtained from the reaction pathway are executed to understand quantitatively the temperature dependence of sensitivity coefficient and production rate for each individual reaction. The production rate of ozone via the most important ozone generation reaction O+O₂+O₂ = > O₃+O₂ increases linearly with the increase of gas temperature, as well as the destruction rates of ozone via the most important ozone decomposition reactions O₃+O₃ = > O₂+O₂+O₂ and O₃ + O = > O₂(b¹∑)+O₂.     

Ultrasound enhanced 50 Hz plasma treatment of glass-fiber-reinforced polyester at atmospheric pressure

Glass-fiber-reinforced polyester (GFRP) plates are treated using a 50?Hz dielectric barrier discharge at a peak-to-peak voltage of 30?kV in helium at atmospheric pressure with and without ultrasonic irradiation to study adhesion improvement. The ultrasonic waves at the fundamental frequency of around 30?kHz with the sound pressure level of approximately 155?dB were introduced vertically to the GFRP surface through a cylindrical waveguide. The polar component of the surface energy was almost unchanged after the plasma treatment without ultrasonic irradiation, but drastically increased approximately from 20 up to 80?mJ?m^?2 with ultrasonic irradiation. The plasma treatment with ultrasonic irradiation also introduced oxygen- and nitrogen-containing functional groups at the GFRP surface. These changes would improve the adhesion properties of the GFRP plates.     

Dynamic Performance of Ozonation Treatment for Nonionic Surfactants (Polyoxyethylene Alkyl Ether) in a Bubble Column Reactor

The ozonation of a nonionic surfactant, Sannonic SS-90 (polyoxyethylene alkyl ether), which is one of polyoxyethylene nonionic surfactants, in water has been investigated using a bubble column. The effects of initial nonionic surfactant concentration, ozone gas flow rate, inlet ozone concentration in the gas-phase, liquid-phase temperature and hydrogen peroxide dose on decomposition of Sannonic SS-90 were systematically examined. The decomposition rate of Sannonic SS-90 decreased with the increase in the initial surfactant concentration and increased with increasing ozone flow rate and temperature. It was found that the rate of Sannonic SS-90 mineralization was weakly dependent on the gas-phase inlet ozone concentration in the range of the gas-phase inlet ozone concentration in this study. The oxidation rate increased with increasing concentration of H₂O₂, reached a maximum value and then decreased with further increasing of H₂O₂ concentration. The dynamic performance of the ozonation in a semi-batch bubble column was simulated using a mathematical model based on a tanks-in-series model. Reasonable agreement between the present experimental data and the simulated results was found.