Oxidation of Styrene in a Silent Discharge Plasma

A silent discharge plasma reactor has been developed to study the oxidation of styrene vapor in argon/oxygen mixtures. A number of analytical techniques were employed to determine the destruction efficiency and to characterize the intermediate products. The destruction efficiency was measured as a function of initial styrene concentration, temperature, and energy density of the plasma. The formation of solid products was observed in most experiments. At low temperature (100°C), the solid deposit was polymeric in nature, while at high temperature (300°C) the solid appeared to be amorphous carbon. A combination of high temperature and high energy density resulted in high destruction efficiency and minimal production of solid films. The destruction efficiency vs. energy density is shown to be more complex than a simple model predicting exponential behavior. Several reasons for the discrepancy are suggested. The “e-folding” energy density for the destruction of styrene is compared to literature values for other organic compounds, measured using similar types of plasma reactors.