Direct Decomposition of Anesthetic Gas Exhaust Using Atmospheric Pressure Multigas Inductively Coupled Plasma

In our research group, an atmospheric multigas inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source was developed for industrial plasma processing and elemental analysis. The plasma source can stably generate atmospheric thermal plasma not only by Ar but also by He, O₂, N₂, CO₂, air, and their mixture gas. In this paper, the plasma source was applied for anesthetic gas decomposition including N₂O, which is a kind of global warming gases. Atmospheric thermal plasma was generated by mixture gas of N₂O, O₂, and air. It corresponds to actual gas composition for up to three surgery exhaust. Spectroscopic characteristics of generated plasma and composition of treated gas were investigated. By using optimally shaped ICP torch, 99.9% of decomposition rate and 942 g/kWh of high energy efficiency were achieved. However, around 3% of NO_x was generated as by-products due to high gas temperature.