Assessment of a dielectric barrier discharge plasma reactor at atmospheric pressure for the removal of bisphenol A and tributyltin

Abstract

The ability of a laboratory-scale dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) nonthermal plasma reactor at atmospheric pressure was assessed for the removal of bisphenol A (1 mg L⁻¹) and tributyltin (10 mg L⁻¹) from aqueous solutions. The elimination of both the compounds followed an exponential decay equation, and a first-order degradation kinetics was proposed for them (k=0.662 min ⁻¹ for bisphenol A and k=0.800 min ⁻¹ for tributyltin), reaching in both cases about 96% removal after 5-min treatment. Accordingly, plasma DBD reactors could be used as alternative advanced oxidation technologies for the removal of some persistent and toxic pollutants from water and wastewater, although further research should be performed to evaluate the effluent toxicity.

• dielectric barrier discharge
• plasma
• water treatment
• hazardous pollutants
• advanced oxidation

Funding

This research was funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Program for Research and Technological Development of the European Union [FP7-SME-2010-1 - Grant agreement no.: 2262033-WATERPLASMA].