UNIVERSITAS INDONESIA

Plasma Physics and Technology; Industrial Applications

Paper Resume Plasma and Ozon Technology

GROUP 4

GROUP MEMBERS :
SARAH VANIA GHAISANI (1506673233)
ANISSA CLARITA (1506746374)
RATU ANISSA (1506746411)

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

ENGINEERING FACULTY
UNIVERSITAS INDONESIA
NOVEMBER 2018
 TABLE OF CONTENT

1. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 3
2. Thermal Plasma Generators (Plasma Torches) ............................................... 3
2.1 Non Transferred arc plasma torch ........................................................... 3

2.2 Transfer arc plasma torch ........................................................................ 3

3. Thermal Plasma for Destruction of Toxic-Harmful Material ......................... 4

4. Typology of Wastes Treatable with Plasma Arc Reactors.............................. 5
4. Specific Applications of Plasma Waste Treatment Processes ........................ 6
5.1 CH2Cl2, CCl4 ................................................................................................. 6

5.2 Halons ............................................................................................................ 6

6. Surface Modification of the Materials .............................................................. 6

6.1 Plasma-spray Technology ............................................................................. 7

6.2 Cold Plasma Technology.............................................................................. 7

7. Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 9
REFERENCES...................................................................................................... 10

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1. Introduction
Types of plasma that used for industrial processes
1. Thermal plasma : produced at high pressure (>10 kpa) by means of direct
or alternating current (DC-AC) or radio frequency (rf) or microwave source.
Torches : device that produce plasmas with electron and ion temperature of the
order of 1-2eV and with a very low gas ionization
2. Cold or non-equilibrium plasma : produced under vacuum conditions using
low power rf or microwave or dc sources, the electron temperature higher than
the ion temperature.
The interactions of the plasma particles on materials  modification of the surface,
can add different functional properties

2. Thermal Plasma Generators (Plasma Torches)

The arc discharge of plasma torches provides a high density and high
temperature region between two electrodes and, in the presence of a sufficiently
high gas flow, the plasma can extend beyond one of the electrodes in the form of a
plasma jet.
Types of plasma arc generators
2.1 Non Transferred arc plasma torch
 Two electrodes do not participate in the process and have the sole function of
plasma generation
 The electrodes are generally water cooled and many designs use magnetic axial
fields generated by a direct current passing through a coil that surrounds the
electrodes
 Have heating efficiency ranges between 50%-90% and increases with the
increasing of gaseous flow
 Mainly used for the pyrolysis of liquid or muddy wastes
2.2 Transfer arc plasma torch
 The couple of electrodes could have different geometry ; a cylindrical bar
(cathode) and a hollow cylinder (anode) or two coaxial cylinders that could
operate with opposite polarities

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  One of the electrodes (anode) is external, so that the arc has transferred to
external anode constituted by an electrically conductive materials. The
substance is placed in an electrically grounded metallic vessel acting as anode
 The arc starts between cathode and container carrying the substance to locally
elevated temperatures ; the subtances are liquefied, subsequently vitrified
reaching the complex waste inertisation
 The cathode can be constructed by a water cooled metal or by a “consumable
through sublimation” conductor materials such as graphite
 Used for metallurgical processes with power up to many MW
 Have heating efficiencies higher than 90% with limited requirements of
gaseous flow for plasma generation

Figure 1. (a) Non-transferred arc plasma torch; (b) transferred arc plasma torch

3. Thermal Plasma for Destruction of Toxic-Harmful Material

Thermal plasma reactors’ advantages for destruction of hazardous wastes :
 Large throughputs in a small reactor
 Obtain very high quench rates
 Faster-start up and shut down times of the reactor
 Use of electric energy reduces gas floe needs and off-gas treatment requirement
 Easy integration into a manufacturing process
Thermal plasma reactors’ disadvantages for destruction of hazardous wastes : Use
of electricity as energy sources, which unfavorably influences the process economy.

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4. Typology of Wastes Treatable with Plasma Arc Reactors
There are two different plasma arc reactor treatment concepts can be
hypothesized for the material destruction:
 Use of the heat produced by the plasma jet, which equivalent to the
combustion effect with more elevated temperatures as an advantage.
 Combined use of the energized plasma particles impinging on molecules plus
heat. It can be utilized to treat gases or liquids (with non-transferred arc) or
solids and muddies (with transferred arc) directly injected in the highest plasma
density region of the plasma arc.
The destruction efficiency is higher in the second cases; the ion and electron
bombardment is able to destroy high energy bonds or thermo-stable molecules.

Figure 2. Plasma Arc Reactor Concepts;

a) 1st concept, b) 2nd concept

The halogenated waste, when

incinerated without precautions, could produce toxic substances like dioxins and
furans. The formation of dioxin commonly occurs between 650oC and 300oC, with
maximum formation occurring at approximately 300oC. This case can be controlled
by rapidly cool the flue gas in the reactor using a spray dryer and scrubber or other
antipollution devices. However, dioxin forms and the concentrations of the emitted
dioxin can be even greater in the presence of metal catalysts (like copper, zinc or
cadmium).

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4. Specific Applications of Plasma Waste Treatment Processes

The most complete development of a plasma process has been performed by

Westinghouse. The reactor consists of a 1MW non-transferred plasma torch; a
refractory lined hot reaction channel which exhausts the reaction products into a
larger holding tank. The acidic gases will be neutralized in a scrubber and then
exhausted. The torch consists of two cylindrical water-cooled electrodes with the
same diameter, and the plasma gas (air) is injected through a narrow gap between
them. A magnetic field rotates the arc electrode attachment reducing electrode
wear.
5.1 CH2Cl2, CCl4
The decomposition of dichloromethane (CH2Cl2) has been deeply
investigated by the Institute of Plasma Physics of Prague. The plasma is generated
in water plasma torch by heating and ionization of steam produced by the
interaction of the electric arc with water vortex surrounding the arc column.
Experiments were carried out with a total power of the torch of 84kW. The reaction
chamber is made by stainless steel with an alumina tube inserted 20mm downstream
the torch exit. The substance was injected into the plasma jet in the upstream part
of the tube. Oxygen was added into reaction chamber to avoid the production of
solid carbon. The treated liquid was injected at the rate of 60 ml/min. The measured
DRE was 99.9995%.
5.2 Halons
A laboratory plasma plant for the disposal of Halons is working at the
Istituto di Fisica del Plasma in Milan. The plasma torch is operated in argon with a
nominal power of 15kW. The flow of the injected substance was up to 2 slm at 1
bar. The complete destruction of the Halon molecules is demonstrated by a large
increase of the mass spectrometer signal of the cracking products and by optical
emission spectroscopy.
6. Surface Modification of the Materials
Thermal and cold plasmas can be used for the surface modification of the
materials in order to confer functional properties to the treated surfaces.

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6.1 Plasma-spray Technology
Thermal plasma is possible to produce ceramic or metallic thick films on
different metallic substrates with high adhesion and good control of the thickness.
These coatings can act as thermal barriers, hardwearing, anticorrosion, anti-erosion,
etc.
The deposition process consists essentially in the injection of powders in the
plasma jet, where they are accelerated and heated by the plasma jet until their
melting point. The powders are directed to the substrate (surface on which the film
must be produced) and by the impact generates a coating of many layers of
overlapped particles (Fig. 4). Almost each material could be melted and used to
produce a coating. Generally, the substrate is not heated over the 150oC, so that its
metallurgical properties are unchanged. The substrate is cooled by air or frozen gas.
The typical thickness of the coatings is in the range 0.05–0.5 mm; in particular
applications, it can overcome 1 mm. The configuration anode/cathode, the gas
density, the flow speed and the electric power determine the temperature and speed
of the plasma particles. The speed and the temperature of the powders depend on
their dimensions, specific heat and density.

Figure 3. Plasma spray process

A crucial problem is the injection point of the powders in the plasma jet. The
powders are injected just outside the anode through a tungsten carbide nozzle with
variable injection angle. The purpose is that the powders are heated until the melting
temperature, avoiding both the complete melting of the grain and the vaporization
of the powders.
6.2 Cold Plasma Technology
Cold plasmas could modify the superficial functional characteristics of any
organic materials, since the plasma gas is substantially at room temperature. Some

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properties of surface that could be modified with the superficial treatments of the
materials are listed in Table below
Table 1. Materials could be modified by superficial treatments

The type of modification depends on the pre-treatment and composition of the

substrate, on the type and the quantity of reactive gas, on the total reactor pressure,
on the rf applied power and on the process time.
At the Istituto di Fisica del Plasma, CNR of Milan, a plant for SiOx [9] film
deposition on different materials is functioning. In particular films with the
followings characteristics have been produced:
 Gas barrier films on glass and PET.
 Hydrophobic films on plastics, metals, glass, ceramics, papers and textiles.
As an example, the modification of the wetting characteristics of application
on a material is reported. The plasma is used to increase or decrease the wetting
(measured by the decrease or the increase of the contact angle on the surface of
different liquids including water). Therefore, a surface can be transformed from
hydrophobic to hydrophilic and vice versa. Fig. 5 shows the plasma plant layout
used to change the surface properties of a fabric. The fabric is positioned in the
process reactor between the two electrode

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 Figure 4. Plasma plant layout for surface modification
7. Conclusion
The importance of a correct toxic waste destruction increases due to the
environmental pollution and to the limited natural resources. Incineration or storage
are often very hazardous. The thermal plasma technology is a promising alternative
to the disposal than the conventional processes due to the advantages of the plasma
reactors. The conversion of halogenated toxic waste into non-toxic substances by
means of the plasma torch is possible.
In the field of the superficial modifications of the materials, the plasma
technology opens unthinkable developments that the single researcher hardly
succeeds to hypothesize. The popularisation of the possibilities of the plasma,
together with the contemporary idea of its specific industrial applications, resides
in the operational promptness of the interested industries. Therefore, a collaboration
between the research and the industry for the full exploitation of these new
technologies is more and more essential.

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 REFERENCES

[1] G. Bonizzoni, E. Vassallo. Plasma Physics and Technology; Industrial

Applications, Milan, 2002.
[2] Heberlein JVR. Pure Appl Chem 1992;64(5):629.
[3] WestinghouseFEnvironmental System & Services, Pyroplasma Technical
Bulletin, 1988.
[4] Heberlein JVR, Melilli WJ, Dighe SV, Reed WH. In: Boulos MI, editor.
Proceedings of the workshop on Industrial Plasma Applications Pugnochiuso,
1989.
[5] Brozek V, Hrabovsky M, Kopecky V. Proceedings of the 13th International
Symposium on Plasma Chemistry, Beijing, 1997.
[6] Beretta FE, Vassallo E, Cola M, Bonizzoni G. Proceedings of the 5th
International Plasma Processing Conference, Saint Petersburg, 1999.
[7] Beretta FE, Vassallo E. Proceedings of the 14th International Symposium on
Plasma Chemistry, Prague, 1999.
[8] Greene JE. Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Studies Institute on Plasma–
surface Interactions and Processing of Materials, Alicante, 1988.
[9] Binh VT, editor. Surface mobilities on solid materials Fundamental concepts
and application, NATO ASI, Series B, Physics Vol. 86. New York: Plenum Press,
1983.
[10] Abdullin I, Zheltoukhin V, Kashapov N. Proceedings of the 14th International
Symposium on Plasma Chemistry, Praha, 1999.

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