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Degradation of Methylene Blue by Pulsed Nanosecond Discharge in Water with Ar-O2 Gaseous Bubbles

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Abstract

The rise of water effluents containing emerging contaminants that resist conventional chemical and physical treatments makes the treatment of wastewater more complex. Plasma-based treatment methods have great potential to degrade many of the emerging contaminants, including dyes. In this study, using pulsed nanosecond discharges, we investigate the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye in water by generating plasma in Ar-O2 gas bubbles in water. The scalability of the setup is studied by producing discharges in a one electrode setup (a needle-to-plate configuration) and in a four electrodes setup (four needles-to-wire configuration). The discharge was characterized by electrical measurements (current and voltage waveforms) and optical emission spectroscopy. We find that the discharge properties are stable during the 30 min of processing, with and without the presence of MB in solution at low electrical conductivity. The production rate of H2O2 in the one electrode setup was measured in 0% and 70% O2, and it was found to be ∼2.3 and 2.9 mg/Lmin, respectively. In the four electrodes setup, H2O2 production rate was lower: ∼1.2 and 1.9 mg/Lmin in 0% and 100% O2. Degradation of MB was assessed in both setups for (i) different % of O2 in the gas mixture, (ii) different MB initial concentration, and (iii) different initial water conductivity. In the one electrode setup, a high MB degradation (> 85%) was generally achieved in all conditions, but a better performance is noted in high O2 percentage (> 50%) at low initial water conductivity. At low MB concentration and low electrical conductivity, the performance of the four electrodes setup was better than the one electrode setup.

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No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

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Acknowledgements

The research reported in this publication was financially supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), under award number RGPIN-2023-03951. The authors thank the Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Nature et Technologie (FRQ-NT) and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) for funding the research infrastructure.

Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), under award numbers RGPIN-2023-03951.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Groupe de physique des plasmas, Département de Physique, Université de Montréal, 1375 Avenue Thérèse-Lavoie-Roux, Montréal, Québec, H2V 0B3, Canada

    Nadir Aloui, Camille Gouze & Ahmad Hamdan

  2. Laboratoire de Recherche des sciences de l’eau, Département Hydraulique, École Nationale Polytechnique. 10, Rue des frères OUDEK, El Harrach 16200, Alger, Algérie

    Nadir Aloui & Ibtissem Belgacem

  3. Département de physique, Cégep de Saint-Laurent, 625 Avenue Sainte-Croix, Saint-Laurent, Québec, H4L 3X7, Canada

    Julien Pregent

  4. Centre des technologies de l’eau, 696 Avenue Sainte-Croix, Saint-Laurent, Québec, H4L 3Y2, Canada

    Julien Pregent

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  1. Nadir Aloui
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  2. Julien Pregent
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  4. Ibtissem Belgacem
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  5. Ahmad Hamdan
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Contributions

N A, J P, and A H wrote the main manuscript text and prepared the Figures. C G, N A, and J P did the experiments under the supervision of A H. N A, J P, A H, and I B contributed to the writing and revision of the manuscript. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ahmad Hamdan.

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Aloui, N., Pregent, J., Gouze, C. et al. Degradation of Methylene Blue by Pulsed Nanosecond Discharge in Water with Ar-O2 Gaseous Bubbles. Plasma Chem Plasma Process (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11090-024-10468-6

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