• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.289-299
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• 2013

Objectives: For the field application of the dielectric barrier discharge plasma reactor, scale-up of the plasma reactor is needed. This study investigated the possibility of inactivation of microorganisms in sewage using pilot multi-plasma reactor. We also considered the possibility of degradation of total organic carbon (TOC) and nonbiodegradable matter ($UV_{254}$) in sewage. Methods: The pilot plasma reactor consists of plasma reactor with three plasma modules (discharge electrode and quartz dielectric tube), liquid-gas mixer, high voltage transformers, gas supply equipment and a liquid circulation system. In order to determine the operating conditions of the pilot plasma reactor, we performed experiments on the operation parameters such as gas and liquid flow rate and electric discharge voltage. Results: The experimental results showed that optimum operation conditions for the pilot plasma reactor in batch experiments were 1 L/min air flow rate), 4 L/min liquid circulation rate, and 13 kV electric discharge voltage, respectively. The main operation factor of the pilot plasma process was the high voltage. In continuous operation of the air plasma process, residual microorganisms, $UV_{254}$ absorbance and TOC removal rate at optimal condition of 13 kV were $10^{2.24}$ CFU/mL, 56.5% and 8.6%, respectively, while in oxygen plasma process at 10 kV, residual microorganisms, $UV_{254}$ absorbance and TOC removal rate at optimal conditions were $10^{1.0}$ CFU/mL, 73.3% and 24.4%, respectively. Electric power was increased exponentially with the increase in high voltage ($R^2$ = 0.9964). Electric power = $0.0492{\times}\exp^{(0.6027{\times}lectric\;discharge\;voltage)}$ Conclusions: Inactivation of microorganisms in sewage effluent using the pilot plasma process was done. The performance of oxygen plasma process was superior to air plasma process. The power consumption of oxygen plasma process was less than that of air plasma process. However, it was considered that the final evaluation of air and oxygen plasma must be evaluated by considering low power consumption, high process performance, operating costs and facility expenses of an oxygen generator.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.187-195
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• 2013

Objectives: For the practical application of the dielectric barrier discharge plasma reactor, a plasma reactor able to manage large volumes of water is needed. This study investigated the possibility of the practical application of a multi-plasma reactor which is a scaled-up version of a single plasma reactor. Methods: The multi-plasma reactor consists of several high-voltage transformers and plasma modules (discharge, ground electrodes and quartz dielectric tubes). The effects of water characteristics such as voltage (30-120 V), air flow rate (1-5 l/min), number of high-voltage transformers and plasma modules, and water quality on Escherichia coli (E. coli) disinfection and decrease of COD and $UV_{254}$ absorbance were investigated. Results: The experimental results showed that at a voltage of over 80 V, most of the E. coli were disinfected within 90 seconds. E. coli inactivation was not affected by the air flow rate. E. coli disinfection in the multiplasma process showed the traditional log-linear form of the disinfection curve. E. coli inactivation performance by transformer 3-Reactor 5 and transformer 3-Reactor 3 were similar. The disinfection performance of the UV process was affected by artificial sewage water. However, the plasma process was less affected by the artificial sewage within the standards for effluent water quality. Conclusions: Disinfection performance with several low voltages and plasma modules of three to five in number applied to the plasma process was higher than that concentrating a small amount of high voltage through a single plasma reactor. Removal of COD, $UV_{254}$ absorbance, and E. coli disinfection with the plasma process were better than with the UV process.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.53 no.7
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• pp.377-381
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• 2004

A discharge plasma reactor using a ferroelectric pellet packed bed is now used as a removal means of pollutant gases, such as NOx, SOx and VOCs. When an ac voltage is applied to this plasma reactor, then the pellets are polarized, and great electric fields are formed at each top and bottom contact points of the ferroelectric pellets. Thus the points of each pellet become covered with intense corona discharges, where an electrophysicochemical reaction is taking place strongly However these strong discharges also elevate the temperature of the pellets greatly and concurrently decrease the output ozone generation, as a result, the overall removal efficiency of gas becomes decreased greatly A new configuration of discharge plasma reactor using a ferroelectric pellet layer and a wire-to-wire electrode has been proposed and investigated experimentally. It is found that an intensive microdischarge is taking place on the surface of ac corona-charged ferroelectric pellet layer of the proposed reactor, which concurrently enhances the efficiency of plasma generation greatly And, this type of configuration of plasma reactor utilizing a wire-to-wire electrode and a ferroelectric pellet layer could be used as one of effective plasma reactors to remove pollutant gas.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.514-524
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• 2016

This work suggests a study on 5 kW plasma power supply design and reactor capacitance estimation algorithm for a wide range of linear output control to operate a plasma reactor. The suggested study is designed to use a two-stage circuit and control the full-bridge circuit of the two-stage circuit using the buck converter output voltage of the single-stage circuit. The switching frequency of the full-bridge circuit is designed to operate through high-frequency switching and obtain maximum output using LC parallel resonance. Soft switching technique(ZVS) is used to reduce the loss caused by high-frequency switching, and duty control of the buck converter is applied to control a wide range of linear output. The internal capacitance of the reactor cannot easily be extracted, and thus, the reactor cannot be operated in an optimized resonant state. To address this issue, this work designs the internal capacitance of the reactor such that estimations can be performed with the developed reactor capacitance estimation algorithm applied to the internal capacitance of the reactor. A 5 kW plasma power supply is designed for a wide range of linear output control, and the validity of the study on the reactor capacitance estimation algorithm is verified.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.648-652
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• 2008

Corona discharge and ozone generation characteristics of a wire-plate plasma reactor, with a biased third electrode, have been investigated with an emphasis on the role of the bias voltage and frequency applied on the third electrode. It was found that the wire-plate plasma reactor, with the biased third electrode, had a switching characteristic on its I-V characteristics for negative and positive discharges, which is very different from that of a conventional wire-plate plasma reactor without the third electrode. As a result, the corona discharge and ozone generation characteristics of the proposed plasma reactor could be controlled by adjusting the bias voltage and frequency of the third electrode. The corona onset and breakdown voltages, and ozone generation and yield, were increased compared with those of without the third electrode. These, however, reveal the effectiveness of the biased third electrode.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.369-378
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• 2014

Effect of improvement of the dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma system on the inactivation performance of bacteria were investigated. The improvement of plasma reactor was performed by combination with the basic plasma reactor and UV process or combination with the basic plasma reactor and circulation system which was equipped with gas-liquid mixer. Experimental results showed that tailing effect was appeared after the exponential decrease in basic plasma reactor. There was no enhancement effect on the Ralstonia Solanacearum inactivation with combination of basic plasma process and UV process. The application of gas-liquid mixing device on the basic plasma reactor reduced inactivation time and led to complete sterilization. The effect existence of gas-liquid mixing device, voltage, air flow rate (1 ~ 5 L/min), water circulation rate (2.8 ~ 9.4 L/min) in gas-liquid mixing plasma, plasma voltage and UV power of gas-liquid mixing plasma+UV process were evaluated. The optimum air flow rate, water circulation rate, voltage of gas-liquid mixing system were 3 L/min, 3.5 L/min and 60 V, respectively. There was no enhancement effect on the Ralstonia Solanacearum inactivation with combination of gas-liquid mixing plasma and UV process.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.1165-1173
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• 2014

For the field application of dielectric barrier discharge plasma reactor in nutrient solution culture, a filtration-DBD (dielectric barrier discharge) plasma reactor was investigated for the Ralstonia solanacearum which causes bacterial wilt in aquiculture. The filtration-DBD plasma reactor system of this study was consisted of filter, plasma reactor, reservoir. The DBD plasma reactor consisted of a quartz dielectric tube, discharge electrode (inner) and ground electrode (outer). The experimental results showed that the inactivation of R. solanacearum with filter media type in filter reactor ranked in the following order: anthracite > fiber ball > sand > ceramic ball > quartz ceramic. In filtration + plasma process, disinfection effect with the voltage was found to small. In disinfection time of 120 minutes, residual R. solanacearum concentration was 1.17 log (15 CFU/mL). When the continuous disinfection time was 120 minute, disinfection effect was thought to keep the four days. In sporadic operation mode of 30 minutes disinfection - 24 hours break, residual R. solanacearum concentration after five days was 0.3 log (2 CFU/mL). It is considered that most of R. solanacearum has been inactivated substantially.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.40-47
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• 2002

Because UV wavelength lights can activate photocatalysts, plasma is used as a light source of a photocatalytic reactor. Even though plasma has good intensity for photo reaction, substrate of catalyst coating was limited by the geometry of plasma generator. Usually bead type substrate was used for a pack bed type reactor. Honeycomb monolith type substrate was used with UV lamps instead plasma, due to the light penetration the honeycomb monolith length was too short to show good activity In this study a photocatalytic reactor, which is using a honeycomb monolith substrate, was investigated with plasma as an activation light source. As a parametric study the effects of 1311owing factors on plasma generation and power consumption are examined; supply voltage, substrate length, environment condition, catalyst loading and ratio. Using the test results, the practicability test was done with simulated synthetic gases representing bad smells and automotive exhaust gases.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.150-159
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• 2016

This paper presents a study on the design optimization of a 5 kW plasma discharger for driving plasma reactor. The proposed study is composed of a high-frequency inverter based on the full-bridge circuit using soft switching techniques for high-frequency switching. The switching frequency in the operating region is the area of 130-200 kHz. By applying the LC resonance technique and a variable switching frequency, control technique is designed to be stable under changes in the load characteristics of the plasma reactor. This paper presents a quantitative analysis technique for design optimization. Experiments are performed according to load characteristic variations depending on the vacuum of the plasma reactor. This paper has verified the topology and design method for the 5 kW plasma discharger design.

• Applied Science and Convergence Technology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.237-241
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• 2015

The reactor impedance is calculated for a planar-type cylindrical inductively coupled plasma source by expanding the electromagnetic fields into their Fourier-Bessel series forms including the three-dimensional shape of the antenna. The mode excitation method is utilized to determine the electromagnetic fields based on a Poynting theorem-like relationship. From the obtained electromagnetic fields, a tractable form of the reactor impedance is obtained as a function of various plasma and geometrical parameters and applied to carry out a parametric study.