A novel double dielectric barrier discharge reactor with high field emission and secondary electron emission for toluene abatement

Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) has been extensively investigated in the fields of environment and energy, whereas its practical implementation is still limited due to its unsatisfactory energy efficiency. In order to improve the energy efficiency of DBD, a novel double dielectric barrier discharge (NDDBD) reactor with high field emission and secondary electron emission was developed and compared with traditional DDBD (TDDBD) configuration. Firstly, the discharge characteristics of the two DDBD reactors were analyzed. Compared to TDDBD, the NDDBD reactor exhibited much stronger discharge intensity, higher transferred charge, dissipated power and gas temperature due to the effective utilization of cathode field emission and secondary electron emission. Subsequently, toluene abatement performance of the two reactors was evaluated. The toluene decomposition efficiency and mineralization rate of NDDBD were much higher than that of TDDBD, which were 86.44%–100% versus 28.17%–80.48% and 17.16%–43.42% versus 7.17%–16.44% at 2.17–15.12 W and 1.24–4.90 W respectively. NDDBD also exhibited higher energy yield than TDDBD, whereas the overall energy constant k_overall of the two reactors were similar. Finally, plausible toluene decomposition pathway in TDDBD and NDDBD was suggested based on organic intermediates that generated from toluene degradation. The finding of this study is expected to provide reference for the design and optimization of DBD reactor for volatile organic compounds control and other applications.