Water Purification Using Non-thermal Plasma Driven by Blumlein-line Stacked Pulsed Power Generator

A water purification by streamer discharge using a stacked Blumlein line pulsed power generator under the water containing pollutants has been investigated. The pulsed power generator consisted of six stacked Blumlein line to generate high voltage with low charging voltage. The output voltage was applied to a wire electrode to generate streamer discharge in the water. The wire electrode was set on an array of small size holes of an air tube. The air bubbles were injected into the water through the holes to assist the discharge development. A plane electrode was used as ground electrode and was placed in the water apart from several cm from the high-voltage wire electrode. Acid Blue 64 solution was employed as a specimen. Number of discharges increased with increasing number of the holes. Energy efficiency for decolorization of the solution was improved by increasing number of discharges produced simultaneously at same input energy. The degradation efficiency and energy transfer from the pulsed power generator to the reactor decreased when a streamer-to-arc transition occurred. The solution of 2000 μS/cm conductivity was successfully decolorized using the wire electrode placed in the air tube to reduce ohmic loss with high-conductive solution.