Plasma-Induced Degradation of Benzene in Aqueous Solution

Removal of benzene and effects of various parameters on the removal efficiency in the aqueous solution with plasma are studied. Results indicated that the degradation rate can be considerably raised by prolonging the discharge time, removal proceeded faster when the treatment was conducted in alkaline or acidic than in neutral media. Fe 2+ shows an evident accelerated effect on the benzene elimination, and the presence of H 2 O 2 benefited the degradation. It is demonstrated that the hydroxyl radicals were the most responsible oxidants in the benzene degradation. The major intermediate products resulted from the degradation were identified by an HPLC analysis and a degradation path way was proposed.