The present invention is a method and apparatus for altering a carbon-containing compound in an aqueous mixture. According to a first aspect of the present invention, it has been discovered that for an aqueous mixture having a carbon containing compound with an ozone reaction rate less than the ozone reaction rate of pentachlorophenol, use of corona discharge in a low or non-oxidizing atmosphere increases the rate of destruction of the carbon containing compound compared to corona discharge an oxidizing atmosphere. For an aqueous mixture containing pentachlorphenol, there was essentially no difference in destruction between atmospheres. According to a second aspect of the present invention, it has been further discovered that an aqueous mixture having a carbon-containing compound in the presence of a catalyst and oxygen resulted in an increased destruction rate of the carbon containing compound compared to no catalyst.
This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09/299,677, now abandoned, filed Apr. 26, 1999 which is a divisional of application Ser. No. 08/926,340, filed Sep. 05, 1997 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,980,701.
A dielectric barrier discharge plasma reactor device for plasma-based gas and liquid purification. The device comprises a series of electrodes arranged in rows of alternating polarity so as to form a series of triangular modules in which the spacing between adjacent electrodes is less than or equal to the diameter of an individual electrode. When an electrical power supply is connected to the electrodes, an electrical discharge is produced which reacts with the constituents of the fluid to produce activated radicals. The device further comprises a fluid swiveling device which facilitates homogenous flow of the contaminated fluid through the reactor by providing effective mixing between activated radicals and fluid, such that toxins contained in the fluid are attacked and decomposed by the radicals. A number of alternative embodiments of the fluid swiveling device are described.
A processing apparatus for subject of the present invention uses a high voltage electrode and a ground electrode, and generates plasma under atmospheric pressure in a reaction passage through which a to-be-processed subject passes. For example, even fluorocompound such as PFC including CF.sub.4 can effectively be decomposed because the fluorocompound is brought into contact with plasma in a small space for sufficient time, and the apparatus has a small and simple structure. Therefore, the apparatus can be added to each process chamber.
