Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. (2017) 79: 30802
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjap/2017160472

Regular Article

Paracetamol degradation in aqueous solution by non-thermal plasma^*

¹ GREMI, UMR 7344, CNRS/Université d'Orléans, 14 rue d'Issoudun, BP 6744, 45067 Orléans Cedex 2, France
² ICOA, UMR 7311, CNRS/Université d'Orléans, Pôle Chimie, rue de Chartres, BP 6759, 45067 Orléans Cedex 2, France
³ CBM, UPR 4301, CNRS, rue Charles Sadron, CS 80054, 45071 Orléans Cedex 2, France

^a e-mail: olivier.aubry@univ-orleans.fr

Received: 14 December 2016
Revised: 20 January 2017
Accepted: 10 July 2017
Published online: 4 August 2017

Abstract

This study deals with paracetamol degradation in water using a non-thermal plasma (NTP) created by a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD). The effects of the NTP operating conditions on the degradation were studied, showing that the treatment efficiency of the process was highly dependent on the electrical parameters and working gas composition in the reactor containing the aqueous solution. A conversion rate higher than 99% was reached with an energy yield of 12 g/kWh. High resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) measurements showed that the main species produced in water during the process were nitrogen compounds, carboxylic acids and aromatic compounds.