The combined effects of oxygen and water vapor on three typical volatile organic compounds, i.e. tetrachloromethane, n-butane and toluene, decomposition efficiency under gliding arc gas discharge conditions are studied. The electron density and the density of the reactive radicals such as O and OH are modified by addition of oxygen and water vapor. Consequently, the decomposition process can be enhanced or suppressed, depending on the involved chemical structures and reaction channels. The addition of oxygen and water vapor suppresses the tetrachloromethane decomposition which indicates that this process is mainly controlled by the electron dissociation reactions. By contrast, the n-butane and toluene decompositions are enhanced, which shows that they can be mainly ascribed to the radical induced reactions. Especially, in a moist atmosphere the OH radicals are supposed to play the most important role in the n-butane decomposition process.

The efficiency of a gliding arc reactor designed with the aim to degrade aqueous phenol solutions is studied as a function of supply voltage, electrode gap distance, and gas-liquid flow properties. This efficiency, which steeply increases when increasing the supply voltage, can reach 96% when the minimum electrode distance is fixed at 3 mm. Experiments show that phenol degradation efficiency also depends on solution pH, Fe 2+ addition, gas nature and gas flow rate. Furthermore, degradation pathways of phenol in aqueous solutions are proposed.

The removal of Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH's) and soot particles from flue gas was studied using a gliding arc discharge reactor, and the flue gas was emitted from the polyethylene (PE) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) combustion in a laboratory-scale drop tube furnace. The removal efficiencies have ranged from 70.3% up to 74.4%. The maximum removal efficiency of soot particles was up to 89.3%. Experimental results show that the technique can successfully remove PAH's and soot particles from flue gas, a possible mechanism is proposed to explain the experimental observations.

The mechanism of hexane decomposition under gliding arc gas discharge conditions is studied from both qualitative and quantitative analyses of its products for various hexane initial concentrations and different background atmospheres : nitrogen, argon, air (O 2 21% N 2 79% vol.) and N 2 -O 2 mixtures. The decomposition rate, which decreases with increasing hexane initial concentration, can reach 94% when the carrier gas is air. Due to the electron energy consumed by the dissociation of nitrogen, the decomposition rate of hexane in nitrogen is lower than in argon. The radical channel plays a predominant role in the hexane decomposition process. With increasing oxygen concentration in the carrier gas, the hexane decomposition rate increases and promotes the conversion of CO-CO 2 , but it also leads to the formation of NO 2 .

Hydrogen and carbon aerosol are co-generated by rotating gliding arc (RGA) plasma in CH4 direct conversion. The nanostructure carbon aerosol was firstly incorporated with the commercial sponge to fabricate the high selective and hydrophobic adsorption sponge.