A Study of the Performance of Dielectric Barrier Discharge under Different Conditions for Nitrobenzene Degradation

Abstract

Water scarcity and water contamination due to the extensive use of organic compounds in industries trigger us to adopt modern techniques for wastewater treatment. In this research, we developed a new dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) system which was evaluated for the degradation of nitrobenzene in water under different experimental arrangements. DBD produces an enormous amount of active species like O3, •O, O2+ and O2− and •OH to degrade the pollutants. In this study, NB (Nitrobenzene) was treated from wastewater by changing the gas flow rate, adopting different carrier gas, by adding inhibitors and promoters and the effect of applied voltage on the production of active species to check the effectiveness of the DBD system. The DBD system was evaluated based on input power, degradation efficiency and energy yield compared with other advanced oxidation processes. The energy yield of the DBD system was 1.253 mg/kWh for the degradation of 20 mg/L of NB to 75% in 60 min with the discharge power of 0.538 W, which displays better results in comparison with the other AOPs regarding energy yield and the degradation efficiency of the pollutant. The results illustrate the significance of the system and further suggest its application to industrial-scale treatment.