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The potential of an approach combining a pulsed microwave discharge with a catalytic packed bed reactor for the oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) has been studied. The ignition of the plasma has been made possible by inserting ferroelectric BaTiO3 pellets inside the microwave excitator. As a test VOC molecule, acetylene (C2H2) in an amount of 200ppm in dry air was used. The total oxidation products CO and CO2 have been monitored downstream of the plasma region by tuneable diode laser absorption spectroscopy in the infrared region. The oxidative efficiency was found to increase linearly with the pulse repetition rate. The oxidative efficiency and the CO2∕CO selectivity were considerably enhanced when the catalyst was located inside the plasma region, which shows the synergetic effect of the plasma–catalyst combination.

The effect of combining plasma and photocatalyst for Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) removal was investigated in a pulsed low-pressure dc discharge. The photocatalyst was TiO2 while the VOC was acetylene (1000 ppm) diluted in dry air. The temporal evolution of C2H2 concentration was measured by Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS) in the mid-infrared region during the plasma pulse (one second). The contribution of external ultraviolet radiation and plasma exposure were quantified, both with and without a photocatalyst. The synergetic effect was clearly demonstrated.

A pulsed dc low pressure discharge in air (210 Pa) is used to study the mechanisms of activation of a photocatalytic material (TiO2) under plasma exposure. It is first shown that the presence of TiO2 inside the plasma region leads to a strong increase of the reduced electric field. Time resolved measurement of the atomic oxygen density is performed by actinometry during a 10 ms pulse at a low repetition rate (1 Hz) with and without TiO2 pellets inside the plasma region. The presence of TiO2 pellets strongly increases the O atom density during the first millisecond, but this effect saturates for longer exposure times.