Discharge Plasma Combined With Bauxite Residue for Biodiesel Exhaust Cleaning: A Case Study on NOx Removal

Experiments were conducted at laboratory level to treat the oxides of nitrogen (NO_x) present in raw and dry biodiesel exhaust utilizing a combination of electric discharge plasma and bauxite residue, i.e., red mud, an industrial waste byproduct from the aluminum industry. In this paper, the adsorption and a possible catalytic property of bauxite residue are discussed. Nonthermal plasma was generated using dielectric barrier discharges initiated by ac/repetitive pulse energization. The effect of corona electrodes on the plasma generation was qualitatively studied through NO_x cleaning. The plasma reactor and adsorbent reactors were connected in cascade while treating the exhaust. The diesel generator, running on biodiesel fuel, was electrically loaded to study the effectiveness of the cascade system in cleaning the exhaust. Interestingly, under the laboratory conditions studied, plasma-bauxite residue combination has shown good synergistic properties and enhanced the NO_x removal up to about 90%. With proper scaling up, the suggested cascade system may become an economically feasible option to treat the exhaust in larger installations. The results were discussed emphasizing the role of bauxite residue as an adsorbent and as a room temperature catalyst.