JP2008018306A - Apparatus for treating organic matter - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus for treating organic matter, in which organic matter is treated only by plasma without using a catalyst so that the gas to be treated is not reacted directly with a central metal electrode. <P>SOLUTION: The apparatus for treating organic matter is provided with: a tubular plasma unit reactor which is constituted by arranging an external metal electrode incidentally onto the outer peripheral wall of a cylindrical dielectric, in which the gas to be treated can be flowed, and inserting the central metal electrode into the cylindrical dielectric and in which a high-frequency is impressed between the central metal electrode and the external metal electrode on the outer peripheral wall of the cylindrical dielectric to induce non-equilibrium plasma between an inner wall of the cylindrical dielectric and the central metal electrode, the gas to be treated is brought into contact with the induced plasma and decomposed and the surface of the central metal electrode is coated with glass; and a cold air fan for cooling the external metal electrode by cold air or a cooling means for cooling it by water in order to prevent the temperature rising of the outer peripheral wall of the cylindrical dielectric. The apparatus is constituted so that plasma can be induced before the operation of the tubular plasma unit reactor. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an organic substance processing apparatus that can be used for an organic substance detection apparatus or the like, and that can decompose a processing target gas excited by discharge plasma using a tube type plasma unit reactor.

  Conventionally, as a cleaning apparatus using plasma, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, plasma is generated in a processing target gas supplied into a chamber, and radicals of the processing target gas formed by the plasma are generated. There is a technique for causing ions to collide (sputtering) with a bonding portion on a resin substrate.

  In addition, as disclosed in Patent Document 2, a substrate is placed in a reaction chamber having an electromagnetic radiation generation source, a plasma generation gas is introduced, and the plasma generation gas is exposed to electromagnetic radiation to contact the substrate surface. There is a technique in which a plasma is generated and maintained at an operating pressure.

  However, in the conventional cleaning apparatus using plasma, it is necessary to make the space in the chamber / reaction chamber sufficiently wide in order to arrange the substrate, the electromagnetic radiation generation source, etc. It will be very difficult. Moreover, the production cost is also significantly increased. Furthermore, if the concentration of the gas to be treated increases, the discharge decomposition efficiency decreases, and if the supply amount of oxygen decreases in the discharge decomposition treatment, the by-product undergoes a polymerization reaction and many products with strong odors. There is a risk that it will occur.

  Therefore, in the previous application by the inventor of the present application, the discharge decomposition efficiency can be increased even when the concentration of the gas to be processed increases, and the by-product polymerization is enabled by enabling oxygen supply in the discharge decomposition treatment. The reaction can be stopped and can be continuously operated at low cost, and the oxygen supply amount to the gas to be treated can be increased to promote radicalization or ionization reaction, thereby being excited by discharge plasma. The present invention provides an atmospheric pressure plasma element that can decompose, synthesize, and reform the treated gas and that can be used as a dry cleaning device or an ozone generator.

That is, this atmospheric pressure plasma element has an outer electrode formed by attaching a dielectric layer to the outer peripheral wall of a cylindrical dielectric member that allows a gas to be treated to flow in an atmospheric pressure atmosphere, and is disposed inside the cylindrical member. The first and second blade portions rotating forward and spirally connected to each other and the second blade portion rotating backward and spirally are used as internal electrodes, and the gas to be processed and oxygen are subjected to a shearing force in the cylindrical member. By repeating the division and merging, both are stirred and mixed, and at the same time, a high frequency is applied between the two electrodes to induce discharge plasma, whereby the gas to be processed inside the cylindrical member can be decomposed, synthesized, and reformed. Further, each of the first blade portion and the second blade portion is formed by alternately integrally forming along the longitudinal direction of the tubular member by providing a boundary portion having a hole portion between the both blade portions, or divided in advance. The formed blade portions are alternately welded to each other, and the boundary portion is twisted so that the ends of the blade portions are orthogonal to each other at the hole portion. In addition, atmospheric pressure is used as a carrier gas for the gas to be processed, and an oxygen supply source is connected to the cylindrical member to supply excess oxygen to the gas to be processed, and oxygen is generated simultaneously with the discharge plasma reaction. The gas containing was subjected to oxidative decomposition treatment by discharge plasma. Further, it is possible to use as a plasma cleaning apparatus that enables dry cleaning by spraying a gas to be processed, which has been radicalized by excitation by discharge plasma inside the cylindrical member, onto a joint portion on a resin-based substrate. The atmospheric pressure plasma element can be used as an ozone generator.
JP-A-5-121386 JP 2003-124610 A

  However, in the conventional atmospheric pressure plasma element, a central metal electrode surface-treated with a catalyst material is inserted into a cylindrical dielectric body, a high frequency is applied between the metal external electrodes outside the cylindrical dielectric body, A tube-type plasma unit reactor is used in which non-equilibrium plasma is induced between the electrodes to bring the gas to be processed into contact with the plasma, thereby decomposing the gas to be processed by a synergistic effect of plasma excitation and catalytic activity. As described above, since the gas to be treated is directly subjected to a chemical reaction at the center metal electrode, problems such as deterioration of the catalyst material of the center metal electrode and maintenance accompanying this have been pointed out. In addition, in the related art, the external electrode formed by attaching a dielectric layer to the outer peripheral wall of the cylindrical member has a lower dielectric constant due to its own temperature rise, which may cause variations in the processing capacity of the gas to be processed. . Furthermore, since the conventional tube-type plasma unit reactor generates static electricity during operation, it has a problem of adversely affecting plasma excitation and causing a failure to peripheral devices. In particular, in the conventional PACT apparatus, since the catalyst material is arranged on the electrode surface, the plasma and the catalyst material coexist in time and space (hereinafter referred to as spatio-temporal), and in high-power arc discharge The consumption of the catalyst material was severe, and the efficiency decreased with time. Therefore, a glow discharge with low power had to be used. In addition, each apparatus requires a separate power source, and there is a problem in terms of cost, and it has been difficult to standardize and systemize products.

  Therefore, the present invention was created in view of the conventional circumstances as described above, and can be processed only with plasma without using a catalyst, and the gas to be processed is directly applied to the central metal electrode. By preventing reaction, deterioration of the electrode material of the central metal electrode can be prevented in advance, and furthermore, the decrease in dielectric constant can be prevented by preventing the temperature rise of the external electrode itself. In addition, the tube type plasma unit It is an object of the present invention to provide an organic matter processing apparatus that prevents static electricity from being generated during operation of a reactor.

  In the present invention, a metal external electrode is attached to the outer peripheral wall of the cylindrical dielectric that allows the gas to be treated to flow, the central metal electrode is inserted into the cylindrical dielectric, and the metal on the outer peripheral portion of the cylindrical dielectric is A tube type that decomposes the target gas by plasma excitation by applying a high frequency between the external electrodes, inducing a non-equilibrium plasma between the cylindrical dielectric inner wall and the central metal electrode and bringing the target gas into contact with the plasma. In the plasma unit reactor, the surface of the central metal electrode is subjected to a glass coating treatment.

  In addition, a cooling means for cooling the metal external electrode by a cold air fan or water cooling is provided in order to prevent the temperature rise of the cylindrical dielectric outer peripheral wall.

  Furthermore, plasma excitation can be generated before the operation of the tube type plasma unit reactor.

  Further, the present invention is characterized in that a glass, ceramic or glass-coated fluororesin support for installing the center electrode of the tube type plasma unit reactor concentrically with the cylindrical dielectric is installed.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to perform processing only with plasma without using a catalyst, and prevent deterioration of the electrode material of the central metal electrode by preventing the gas to be processed from reacting directly with the central metal electrode. can do. Furthermore, a decrease in dielectric constant can be prevented by preventing the temperature of the external electrode itself from increasing.

  In addition, it does not require a chamber / reaction chamber having a large space for placing a conventional substrate or electromagnetic radiation generation source, etc., and it is not necessary to control a high voltage power supply or control an operation pressure. The reactor itself can be produced easily and inexpensively.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  The organic substance processing apparatus 1 according to the present invention inserts the central metal electrode 2 into the cylindrical dielectric 3, applies a high frequency between the metal external electrodes 4 outside the cylindrical dielectric 3, and the inner wall of the cylindrical dielectric 3 A tube-type plasma unit reactor P is used that induces non-equilibrium plasma between the central metal electrodes 2 to bring the gas to be processed into contact with the plasma and decomposes the gas to be processed only by plasma excitation.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the organic matter processing apparatus 1 connects a joint member 5 made of Teflon (registered trademark) resin material to one end side of a cylindrical dielectric 3 of a tube type plasma unit reactor P to process gas The other end side of the cylindrical dielectric 3 is connected to a substantially L-shaped conduit 8 via a joint member 7 made of Teflon (registered trademark) resin material, and further to the distal end of the conduit 8. The product outlet 11 is formed by connecting a casing 10 filled with an ozone decomposition catalyst such as manganese dioxide through a joint member 9 made of Teflon (registered trademark) resin material. The central metal electrode 2 in the cylindrical dielectric 3 is stretched and fixed between the joint members 7 and 9 via a support member 13 for centering.

  Since the tube-type plasma unit reactor P employs a tube-type dielectric barrier discharge, for example, an outer diameter of 12.5 mm can be used as the cylindrical dielectric 3 that allows a gas to be treated to flow and is a discharge plasma reaction space. For example, a dielectric such as quartz glass is used with a tube thickness of 1.3 mm, and the metal external electrode 4 is closely attached to the outer peripheral portion of the dielectric.

  On the other hand, the surface of the central metal electrode 2 disposed in the cylindrical dielectric 3 is subjected to a glass coating process, so that the gas to be processed introduced into the plasma atmosphere and the gas composition material excited by the plasma reaction Prevents chemical reaction with metal (electrode). This facilitates the removal of the product adhering to the electrode surface.

  A pulse-type high-frequency power source 12 having an output frequency of 13 to 15 kHz, preferably 13.2 kHz, is connected between the central metal electrode 2 and the metal external electrode 4 outside the cylindrical dielectric 3. Non-equilibrium plasma is induced and the processing target gas is brought into contact with the plasma to decompose and remove fibrous organic substances in the atmospheric gas of the processing target gas. At this time, the high frequency power supply 12 is set so that plasma excitation can be generated before the tube type plasma unit reactor P is operated. Further, a cooling means 14 is provided for cooling the metal external electrode 4 by a cold air fan or water cooling in order to prevent a temperature rise of the outer peripheral wall of the cylindrical dielectric 3 when high frequency is generated.

  Further, since ozone is generated by discharge between the metal external electrode 4 and the cylindrical dielectric 3 (dielectric), the metal external electrode 4 is excellent in ozone resistance so as not to be exposed to the outside air, such as PTFE, PFA, FEP. The metal external electrode 4 itself is covered with a fluororesin-based heat-shrinkable tube.

  Moreover, as a metal material of the gas contact part of the tube type plasma unit reactor P, for example, stainless steel whose surface is subjected to glass coating treatment is used.

  Next, in order to explain an example of use and operation of the best mode configured as described above, as shown in FIG. 1, from the inlet 6 of the tube type plasma unit reactor P of the organic matter processing apparatus 1, A gas to be treated such as fibrous organic matter in the atmospheric gas is inhaled at a rate of about 2 liters per minute, for example.

  At the same time, the gas to be treated is introduced into the cylindrical dielectric 3 of the tube-type plasma unit reactor P, and 13.2 kHz between the central metal electrode 2 and the metal external electrode 4 outside the cylindrical dielectric 3. The pulsed high frequency is applied to induce non-equilibrium plasma inside the cylindrical dielectric 3 and the gas to be treated is brought into a radicalized state by bringing the gas to be treated into contact with the plasma, and the fibrous organic matter in the atmospheric gas Is decomposed and removed.

  The treated gas is fed into the casing 10 filled with the ozone decomposition catalyst via the conduit 8 to decompose ozone, and then flows out as a product from the outlet 11.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The schematic structure of the organic substance processing apparatus in the best form for implementing this invention is shown, (a) is sectional drawing seen from the plane side, (b) is sectional drawing seen from the side surface.

Explanation of symbols

P tube type plasma unit reactor 1 organic substance processing device 2 central metal electrode 3 cylindrical dielectric 4 metal external electrode 5, 7, 9 joint member 6 inlet 8 conduit 10 casing 11 outlet 12 high-frequency power source 13 support for centering Member 14 Cooling means

Claims (4)

  A metal external electrode is attached to the outer wall of the cylindrical dielectric that allows the gas to be processed to flow, the center metal electrode is inserted into the cylindrical dielectric, and a high frequency is applied between the metal external electrodes on the outer periphery of the cylindrical dielectric. In a tube type plasma unit reactor that induces non-equilibrium plasma between the cylindrical dielectric inner wall and the central metal electrode to bring the gas to be processed into contact with the plasma, and decomposes the gas to be processed by plasma excitation. An organic material processing apparatus, wherein a surface of a metal electrode is subjected to a glass coating process.   2. The organic matter processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a cooling means for cooling the metal external electrode by a cold air fan or water cooling in order to prevent a temperature rise of the cylindrical dielectric outer peripheral wall.   3. The organic substance processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein plasma excitation can be generated before the tube type plasma unit reactor is operated.   4. A support made of glass, ceramics or glass-coated fluororesin for installing a central electrode of a tube type plasma unit reactor concentrically with a cylindrical dielectric is installed. The organic substance processing apparatus of description.

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