Hazardous waste treatment and recovery of valuable products with a thermalpulsed-plasma technology

Material decomposition is an essential process in chemical industries. A ne w, efficient and environmentally friendly technique that can be used in a c losed-loop process for the treatment and recovery of materials is described . The idea is to decompose a material using a high-energy pulsed-plasma jet . The plasma specific features enable an efficient radiative heat transfer to the treated material bed. Therefore, enhanced energy transfer to selecte d chemical bonds is achieved. The process can be defined as a highly effici ent photolysis. Proof-of-concept tests were carried out on 1,2-Dichloroethane (DCE) fed in batches of a few grams each. A total decomposition of the DCE was achieved with less than 60% of the energy consumption required in a conventional tre atment. In the current project, a modular transportable laboratory has been constru cted. It comprises a 30 kW pulsed power supply featuring an all-solid state power switching system, confined plasma injector, reactor and gas handling and monitoring systems, The expected treatment capacity is 10 kg/h of flui d waste with expected lifetime of the plasma injector of 10(5) pulses. Simu lations and experimental characterization of major components are presented , It is expected that the proposed method will be the Best Available Techno logy (BAT-as defined by the European Union regulations) for many fluid wast es.