Progress of organic wastewater degradation by atmospheric pressure gliding arc plasma technology: A review

The prevention and treatment of organic pollutants in wastewater have attracted extensive attention because they threaten ecological balance and human health. Traditional wastewater treatment technologies, such as physical, chemical, biological methods, etc., are still limiting and challenging due to some factors, such as high energy consumption, chemical agents, low efficiency, and secondary pollution. At present, gliding arc plasma, based on equilibrium/non-equilibrium in plasma temperature, demonstrates itself to be one of the most promising technologies for the degradation of refractory organics with its fast degradation rates, no secondary contamination, high efficiency, and so on. The theoretical mechanisms and typical applications of gliding arc plasma degradation of wastewater are introduced in detail in this paper. The physical and chemical characteristics of gliding arc plasma and the role of the reactive species in the plasma are reviewed.