AUTHOR=Magureanu Monica , Dobrin Daniela , Mandache Nicolae B., Cojocaru Bogdan , Parvulescu Vasile I.

TITLE=Toluene oxidation by non-thermal plasma combined with palladium catalysts

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry

VOLUME=1

YEAR=2013

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2013.00007

DOI=10.3389/fchem.2013.00007

ISSN=2296-2646

ABSTRACT=<p>The oxidation of toluene in air was investigated using a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) combined with a Pd/Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> catalyst. When using only plasma, rather low selectivity toward CO<sub>2</sub> was obtained: 32–35%. By filling the DBD reactor with Pd/Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> catalyst the CO<sub>2</sub> selectivity was significantly enhanced (80–90%), however, a large amount of toluene was desorbed from the catalyst when the discharge was operated. By filling a quarter of the discharge gap with catalyst and placing the rest of the catalyst downstream of the plasma reactor, an important increase of CO<sub>2</sub> selectivity (~75%) and a 15% increase in toluene conversion were achieved as compared to the results with plasma alone. The catalyst exhibited a very good stability in this reaction.</p>