A Novel Concept of Remediation of Polluted Streams Using High Energy Density Glow Discharge (HEDGe)

Abstract

Effluent gases containing various pollutants are generated from many sources. Non-thermal plasmas, including pulsed nanosecond corona (PC), were suggested for simultaneous removal of particutates and gaseous pollutants. PC demonstrated high removal efficiency, also in pilot-scale installations, but the cost of pulsed power supplies remains prohibitively high for most applications. With the purpose of reducing capital costs, DC flow-stabilized coronas had been proposed. Known devices employ linear flow and thus the residence time is very short. Spellman High Voltage Electronics Corp has patented an approach to creating a flow-stabilized discharge in large volumes required by industrial applications. The main idea is providing a fast velocity gas flow in the vicinity of the ionizing electrodes that may be similar to those used in commercial ESPs, using rotational mechanism rather than longitudinal flow. Several designs are envisaged and discussed depending on the application, whereas either HV electrodes or grounded electrodes or both are rotated relative to each other in the same or opposite directions. Expected results and challenges are presented.