Analysis of Hexadecane Decomposition by Atmospheric Microplasma.

Atmospheric microplasma has the potential to be one of the technologies used to purify indoor air. For example, plasma is used for pollutant decomposition or sterilization. In this study, we examined the removal of hexadecane by using microplasma. Hexadecane is contained in diesel oil and it is discharged to the air as exhaust gas. A decrease in the concentration of hexadecane from 3000 to 105 ppm was observed after 120 min of plasma processing. The removal energy efficiency of hexadecane was evaluated to 19.8 μg/W·h. Several by-products were obtained with the plasma process and were analyzed by detector tubes, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and gas chromatograph–mass spectrometer. According to the analysis of the products, hexadecane was decomposed to alkane or alkene, which contains less carbon number 16, and finally, it was decomposed to CO. It became apparent that plasma can cut carbon bonds. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]