Catalytic nonthermal plasma using efficient cobalt oxide catalyst for complete mineralization of toluene

The remarkable rise in industrial utilization of volatile organic compounds has increased their presence in environmental matrices, which is a menace for human health. Conventionally, many technologies are in practice for constricting their escape to the environment. However, due to associated adverse health hazards, more efficient technique ensuring complete mineralization is inevitably demanded. In the current study, the degradation of toluene by post-plasma catalysis using cobalt-coupled (Co3O4–CoO) catalyst was studied. Firstly, a new starch-assisted synthesis route for cobalt coupling is presented. Secondly, the research finding of this study showed that the formed cobalt couple exhibited robust performance for toluene degradation up to 99%, which was attributed to their enhanced redox property and adsorbed oxygen content. This promotion in catalytic ability is due to intrinsically greater oxygen storage capacity of coupling. Additionally, the results of this study indicated that toluene degradation was increased significantly with higher input power, whereas, without catalyst application, nonthermal plasma (NTP) alone produced other VOCs as a result of toluene degradation and higher NO concentration at high input power and higher O3 at low input power. Furthermore, it could be concluded that NTP along with cobalt-coupled catalyst promotes toluene degradation, controls the production of all other VOCs and O3 and significantly reduced the production of NO concentration.