초록 ▼

A non-thermal plasma (NTP) system is used to treat air containing volatile organic compounds (VOC) and/or halogenated volatile organic compounds (HVOC), some of which may be odorous, and/or fine organic particulate (smoke) emissions to be released into the environment by commercial and/or industrial

A non-thermal plasma (NTP) system is used to treat air containing volatile organic compounds (VOC) and/or halogenated volatile organic compounds (HVOC), some of which may be odorous, and/or fine organic particulate (smoke) emissions to be released into the environment by commercial and/or industrial air exhausting, using one or more compound dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) devices that each incorporate a plurality of catalytically active DBD electrodes, catalytically active parts and dielectrics to develop one or more NTP fields so as to create sufficient reactive oxygen species, hydroxyl species and other highly ionized molecules and atomic species so as to cause the oxidation and/or reduction of VOC's and/or HVOC's and/or fine organic particulate contaminants in the air streams to be decomposed to simpler, non pollutant, non odorous compounds that can be subsequently released into the environment.

대표청구항 ▼

1. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants comprising: a planar dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) type non-thermal plasma (NTP) generation cell assembly including at least one electrically hot electrode and at least two electrically ground electrodes provided in an alternating arrangement an

1. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants comprising: a planar dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) type non-thermal plasma (NTP) generation cell assembly including at least one electrically hot electrode and at least two electrically ground electrodes provided in an alternating arrangement and mounted side-by-side in a frame, each of said at least one electrically hot electrode and said at least two electrically ground electrodes is an electrically conductive plate of having a pair of opposed major faces, and at least one electrically hot electrode or said at least two electrically ground electrodes is made from a catalytically active material;dielectric barriers which are plates having a pair of opposed major faces and mounted in said frame between said at least one electrically hot electrode and said at least two electrically ground electrodes with the major faces of the dielectric barriers are in planar arrangement with the major faces of said at least one electrically hot and said at least two electrically ground electrodes;air gaps provided on either side of said dielectric barriers;a gas inlet for directing gas into said cell assembly;a gas outlet for discharging gas from said cell assembly;a gas flow path provided between said gas inlet and said gas outlet, said gas flow path extending through said air gaps;insulators provided on side edges of each of said at least one electrically hot electrode and said at least two electrically ground electrodes to electrically isolate said at least one electrically hot electrode and said at least two electrically ground electrodes from said frame and couple each of said at least one electrically hot electrode and said at least two electrically ground electrodes to said frame, said side edges being provided with an offset shape so that formation of an NTP field near said frame between opposing conductive parts of said at least one electrically hot electrode and said at least two electrically ground electrodes is avoided, said at least one electrically hot electrode and said at least two electrically ground electrodes positioned in said gas flow path exposed to said gas for contacting said gas by said catalytically active material from which the at least one of the electrically hot or the electrically ground electrodes is made;wherein said at least one electrically hot electrode and said at least two electrically ground electrodes generate NTP fields in the air gaps and on the surface of the separating dielectric barrier between opposing surfaces of electrically hot electrodes and electrically ground electrodes when power is applied to said cell assembly, said NTP fields being located in said gas flow path and which produce chemically active species, electrical bombardment and electron/molecular collision for the ionization, decomposition, oxidation and reduction to transform said airborne pollutants to harmless oxidized and reduced forms prior to environmental release. 2. Apparatus for treating airborne pollutants according to claim 1, wherein each of said at least one electrically hot electrode and said at least two electrically ground electrodes are made of the catalytically active material. 3. Apparatus for treating airborne pollutants according to claim 1, wherein said dielectric barriers are one of: coated with a catalytically active material and comprised of a catalytically active material. 4. Apparatus for treating airborne pollutants according to claim 1, further comprising a catalytically active material provided at said gas outlet. 5. Apparatus for treatment airborne pollutants according to claim 1, wherein said gas outlet expels treated gas and said gas inlet receives one of: air and gas including pollutants. 6. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants according to claim 5, further comprising a gas mixing chamber to receive treated gas and gas including pollutants, said treated gas including extra chemically active species from said NTP fields to treat said gas including pollutants, said mixing chamber including an outlet for discharging treated gas. 7. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants according to claim 1, wherein said frame is non-conductive. 8. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants according to claim 1, wherein multiple cell assemblies are arranged in parallel to treat large volumes of gas. 9. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants according to claim 1, wherein multiple cell assemblies are arranged in series. 10. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants according to claim 1, wherein multiple cell assemblies are arranged in series parallel to treat large volumes of gas. 11. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants according to claim 3, wherein said dielectric material is a non-conductive material selected from the group consisting of: alumina and borosilicate glass. 12. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants according to claim 7, wherein said frame is made of a material selected from the group consisting of: ceramic materials, polymer concrete, Teflon and non-metallic insulator materials. 13. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants according to claim 1, wherein said dielectric barriers are spaced equally between said at least one electrically hot electrode and said at least two electrically ground electrodes, a width of said air gaps being between 0.1 mm and 25.0 mm. 14. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants according to claim 1, wherein said dielectric barriers are between 0.5 mm and 10.0 mm thick. 15. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants according to claim 1, wherein said insulators electrically isolate each of said at least one electrically hot electrode and said at least two electrically ground electrodes from said frame. 16. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants according to claim 2, wherein said insulators are made of a ceramic material. 17. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants according to claim 2, wherein said dielectric barriers are sized to extend beyond each of said at least one electrically hot electrode and said at least two electrically ground electrodes on all sides, said dielectric barriers being sized to maximize an electric arc travel distance between said at least one electrically hot electrode and said at least two electrically ground electrodes to minimize short circuiting of said cell assembly. 18. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants according to claim 1, wherein a perimeter of said at least one electrically hot electrode defines a perimeter of an NTP field, said NTP field being spaced from said frame and said insulators. 19. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants according to claim 18, wherein said NTP field is a “glow discharge” type NTP field and said power applied is an AC voltage between 1000 volts and 150,000 volts having a frequency of between 30 Hz and 50 MHz. 20. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants according to claim 18, wherein said NTP field is a “glow discharge” type NTP field and said power applied is a bi-polar pulse. 21. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants according to claim 20, wherein said bi-polar pulse includes a pulse rise time of between 10 nano seconds and 500 micro seconds, a pulse duration of between a value equal to said pulse rise time and 500 micro seconds and a pulse fall time that is equivalent to said pulse rise time followed by a pulse rise time equivalent to said pulse rise time in an opposite polarity pulse, said bi-polar pulse having an off period so that a repetition rate results in a power density of between 0.01 to 1000 joules per second per square centimeter of hot electrode surface. 22. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants according to claim 18, wherein said NTP field is a “glow discharge” type NTP field generated by a combination of positive and negative pulses with a DC bias. 23. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants according to claim 17, further comprising a NTP generation cell power control system to control said power applied to said cell assembly, said NTP generation cell power control system having a proportional integral and derivative (PID) type controller, said NTP generation cell power control system for controlling NTP field power. 24. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants according to claim 23, further comprising an ozone sensor that provides an indication of an ozone content of said treated gas to said NTP generation cell power control system to adjust power applied to said cell assembly in order to produce at least the required amount of said chemically active species for destroying said airborne pollutants. 25. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants according to claim 6, wherein said gas mixing chamber includes a first gas inlet and a second gas inlet, said first gas inlet being coupled to an outlet of said cell assembly to receive said treated gas, said second gas inlet selectively coupled to a source of said gas including pollutants. 26. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants according to claim 25, further comprising an ozone destruct catalyst provided at said outlet of said mixing chamber. 27. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants according to claim 25, further comprising a catalytically active material provided at said gas outlet of said cell assembly and an ozone destruct catalyst provided at said outlet of said mixing chamber. 28. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants according to claim 1, said airborne pollutants being selected from the group consisting of: Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), Halogenic Volatile Organic Compounds (HVOCs), Hydrocarbon compounds (HCs), and fine suspended organic particulate matter. 29. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants as claimed in claim 2, wherein said catalytically active material comprises at least one of Titanium, Palladium, Cadmium or other known catalysts. 30. Apparatus for treatment of airborne pollutants as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one electrically hot electrode and said at least two electrically ground electrodes are identical in size and shape.