Phenol Decomposition Process by Pulsed-discharge Plasma above a Water Surface in Oxygen and Argon Atmosphere

By-products from phenol by the exposure of pulsed-discharge plasma above a phenol aqueous solution are investigated by gas chromatography mass spectrometry, and the decomposition process of phenol is deduced. When Ar is used as a background gas, catechol, hydroquinone and 4-hydroxy-2-cyclohexene-1-on are produced, and no O3 is detected; therefore, active species such as OH, O, HO2, H2O2, which are produced from H2O in the discharge, can convert phenol into those by-products. When O2 is used as a background gas, formic acid, maleic acid, succinic acid and 4,6-dihydroxy-2,4-hexadienoic acid are produced in addition to catechol and hydroquinone. O3 is produced in the discharge plasma, so that phenol is probably decomposed into 4,6-dihydroxy-2,4-hexadienoic acid by 1,3-dipolar addition reaction with O3, and then 4,6-dihydroxy-2,4-hexadienoic acid can be decomposed into formic acid, maleic acid and succinic acid by 1,3-dipolar addition reaction with O3.