Reticulated vitreous carbon electrodes for gas phase pulsed corona reactors

A new design for gas phase pulsed corona reactors incorporating reticulated vitreous carbon electrodes is demonstrated to be effective for the removal of nitrogen oxides from synthetic air mixtures. The reactor consists of a plexiglass tube with porous reticulated carbon disk electrodes placed perpendicularly to the cylinder axis. Streamers propagate between the reticulated carbon disks providing a uniform exposure of the flowing gas stream to the electrical discharge. This mode of operation allows for convenient reactor scale-up and staging while maintaining the inter-electrode spacing in a moderate range, thus precluding the need for higher voltage power supplies. It is further envisioned that the reactor can be operated with multiple sets of electrodes placed in series down the length of the reactor in order to facilitate high efficiency removal of air pollutants. Initial experiments with nitrogen oxide (NO) mixed in dry synthetic air at room temperature and pressure shows that the NO, as expected in an oxidizing environment, is converted to nitrogen dioxide with pulsed corona treatment. Most remarkable, however, is that for the higher operating voltages (55 and 61 kV) and longer residence times (above 24 sec.) the nitrogen dioxide and total NO/sub x/ even in dry air, was reduced.