Frederic Thevenet

Plasma–catalyst coupling for volatile organic compound removal and indoor air treatment: a review

The first part of the review summarizes the problem of air pollution and related air-cleaning technologies. Volatile organic compounds in particular have various effects on health and their abatement is a key issue. Different ways to couple non-thermal plasmas with catalytic or adsorbing materials are listed. In particular, a comparison between in-plasma and post-plasma coupling is made. Studies dealing with plasma-induced heterogeneous reactivity are analysed, as well as the possible modifications of the catalyst surface under plasma exposure. As an alternative to the conventional and widely studied plasma–catalyst coupling, a sequential approach has been recently proposed whereby pollutants are first adsorbed onto the material, then oxidized by switching on the plasma. Such a sequential approach is reviewed in detail.

Investigating the Heterogeneous Interaction of VOCs with Natural Atmospheric Particles: Adsorption of Limonene and Toluene on Saharan Mineral Dusts

The heterogeneous interaction of limonene and toluene with Saharan dusts was investigated under dark conditions, pressure of 1 atm, and temperature 293 K. The mineral dust samples were collected from six different regions along the Sahara desert, extending from Tunisia to the western Atlantic coastal areas of Morocco, and experiments were carried out with the smallest sieved fractions, that is, inferior to 100 μm. N2 sorption measurements, granulometric analysis, and X-ray fluorescence and diffraction (XRF and XRD) measurements were conducted to determine the physicochemical properties of the particles. The chemical characterization showed that dust originating from mideastern Sahara has a significantly higher SiO2 content (∼ 82%) than dust collected from the western coastal regions where the SiO2 relative abundance was ∼ 50%. A novel experimental setup combining diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS), selected-ion flow-tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS), and long path transmission Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) allowed us to follow both the adsorbed and gas phases. The kinetic adsorption/desorption measurements were performed using purified dry air as bath gas, exposing each dust surface to 10 ppm of the selective volatile organic compound (VOC). The adsorption of limonene was independent of the SiO2 content, given the experimental uncertainties, and the coverage measurements ranged between (10 and 18) × 10(13) molecules cm(-2). Experimental results suggest that other metal oxides that could possibly influence dust acidity may enhance the adsorption of limonene. On the contrary, in the case of toluene, the adsorption capacities of the Saharan samples increased with decreasing SiO2 content; however, the coverage measurements were significantly lower than those of limonene and ranged between (2 and 12) × 10(13) molecules cm(-2). Flushing the surface with purified dry air showed that VOC desorption is not a completely reversible process at room temperature. The reversibly adsorbed fraction and the rate coefficients of desorption, kdes, depended inversely on the SiO2 relative abundance for both VOCs.

Determination of the Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) of Photocatalytic Oxidation (PCO) Purifiers for Indoor Air Pollutants Using a Closed-Loop Reactor. Part II: Experimental Results

The performances of a laboratory PhotoCatalytic Oxidation (PCO) device were determined using a recirculation closed-loop pilot reactor. The closed-loop system was modeled by associating equations related to two ideal reactors: a perfectly mixed reservoir with a volume of VR = 0.42 m3 and a plug flow system corresponding to the PCO device with a volume of VP = 5.6 × 10−3 m3. The PCO device was composed of a pleated photocatalytic filter (1100 cm2) and two 18-W UVA fluorescent tubes. The Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) of the apparatus was measured under different operating conditions. The influence of three operating parameters was investigated: (i) light irradiance I from 0.10 to 2.0 mW·cm−2; (ii) air velocity v from 0.2 to 1.9 m·s−1; and (iii) initial toluene concentration C0 (200, 600, 1000 and 4700 ppbv). The results showed that the conditions needed to apply a first-order decay model to the experimental data (described in Part I) were fulfilled. The CADR values, ranging from 0.35 to 3.95 m3·h−1, were mainly dependent on the light irradiance intensity. A square root influence of the light irradiance was observed. Although the CADR of the PCO device inserted in the closed-loop reactor did not theoretically depend on the flow rate (see Part I), the experimental results did not enable the confirmation of this prediction. The initial concentration was also a parameter influencing the CADR, as well as the toluene degradation rate. The maximum degradation rate rmax ranged from 342 to 4894 ppbv/h. Finally, this study evidenced that a recirculation closed-loop pilot could be used to develop a reliable standard test method to assess the effectiveness of PCO devices.