Characteristics of NOx removal combining dielectric barrier discharge plasma with selective catalytic reduction by C2H5OH

With the assistance of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma, selective catalytic reduction of NOx by ethanol over Ag/Al2O3 catalysts was studied. Experimental results show that NOx conversion was greatly enhanced due to the presence of DBD plasma at lower temperature. By varying the DBD voltages or power in 13 kHz frequency at different temperatures, NOx conversion was increased to 40.7% from 6.4% at 176 °C, even to 66.8% from 17.3% at 200 °C. NOx conversion could even be improved to 90% at temperature above 255 °C. It was proposed that nonthermal plasma generated by dielectric barrier discharge reactor was very effective for oxidizing NO to NO2 under excess O2 conditions, which possesses high reactivity with C2H5OH to yield CxHyNzO compound. By reacting with CxHyNzO compound and oxygen, NOx is converted to N2 at low temperatures.