Kinetics study on non-thermal plasma mineralization of adsorbed toluene over γ-Al2O3 hybrid with zeolite

Non-thermal plasma mineralization of the adsorbed toluene over γ-Al₂O₃ hybrid with 13X, ZSM-5, and HY was investigated in a sequential adsorption and plasma oxidation system. The γ-Al₂O₃-13X was shown to have a better plasma oxidation performance with fewer by-products as compared to γ-Al₂O₃-ZSM-5 and γ-Al₂O₃-HY, which was due to its better discharge performance and O₃ decomposition ability. For all of the tested materials, the plasma mineralization of the adsorbed toluene process had a good match with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model: kt = 1/n - 1/n_o, where n₀ and n are the amount of adsorbed toluene (mmol) at discharge time = 0 and t, respectively. The overall reaction constant (k) was shown to be affected by the packing materials. The reason for the kinetic model following the pseudo-second-order in the sequential process was analyzed based on the chemical reaction and mineralization mechanism.