Development of a Pulsed Secondary Electron Emission Gun and its Application to VOC Treatment

An electron beam is widely used for various purposes in industry. We have developed a pulsed secondary electron emission gun (SEEG) which uses pulsed discharge and high voltage technology. The device has some inherent advantages, such as compactness in size and generation of a uniform and wide electron beam. The SEEG consists of a wire ion plasma source, a cathode plate in a vacuum chamber and an electron beam irradiation part. In this paper, we improved the SEEG for stable operation. Previously an abnormal electrical discharge in the vacuum chamber disturbed prolonged electron beam irradiation. Therefore, based on the simulation result of an electrical potential distribution, we installed a plate of reducing electric stress in the vacuum chamber. Then the stable operation of the SEEG became possible. In addition, we have conducted experiment on decomposition of toluene using the SEEG in N2 and Air. The decomposition rate in N2 was higher than that in air. The addition of O2 and increase of humidity in N2 decreased the decomposition rate. Reaction products such as benzene and xylene were identified in N2 by means of GC-MS. On the other hand, benzaldehyde and formic acid were identified in Air. It is conceivable that the difference of byproducts is caused by the presence or absence of OH radical.