LAUSR

Abstract Plasma catalysis technology has shown a great prospect in the oxidation of volatile organic compounds with a low concentration. However, low energy efficiency and large numbers of nanoparticle by-products are still the bottleneck for its practical application. Herein, a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor coupled with nano-sized Au (0.1 wt%) supported on γ-Al2O3 (denoted as Au/γ-Al2O3) was used for plasma catalytic oxidation of toluene. It was found that the energy efficiency was 89.5 g*kWh−1 at 25 °C, and improved to 125.0 g*kWh−1 at 250 °C. If a catalyst was not used in the DBD reactor, the by-products including benzaldehyde, phenol and benzoic acid were formed during the toluene oxidation. Those by-products can form nanoparticles which cause another risk to the atmosphere and human beings. With the use of Au/γ-Al2O3 nanocatalyst, the emission of nanoparticle by-products was reduced by 99.99%. Meanwhile, in-situ plasma DRIFTS analysis showed that Au-based catalysts can promote the oxidation of by-products and the gasification of carbonates to CO2.