Monitoring of -hexane degradation in a plasma reactor by chemical ionization mass spectrometry.

-Hexane (CH) removal and conversion are investigated in a filamentary plasma generated by a pulsed high-voltage Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) at atmospheric pressure and room temperature in a dry N/O (20%) mixture with CH. The degradation of -hexane and the by-product formation are analyzed in real-time using a high-resolution Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometer coupled with Chemical Ionization (CI). As alkanes are reacting slowly with HO ions, two precursor ions were used: O to follow the -hexane mixing ratios and HO to follow the mixing ratios of organic by-products.

Insights into non-thermal plasma chemistry of acetone diluted in N/O mixtures: a real-time MS experiment.

Understanding non-thermal plasma reactivity is a complicated task as many reactions take place due to a large energy spectrum. In this work, we used a well-defined photo-triggered non-filamentous discharge to study acetone decomposition in N/O gas mixtures. The plasma reactor is associated to a compact chemical ionization FTICR mass spectrometer (BTrap) in order to identify and quantify in real-time acetone and by-products in the plasma.

Direct and Real-Time Analysis in a Plasma Reactor Using a Compact FT-ICR MS: Degradation of Acetone in Nitrogen and Byproduct Formation.

Methods for reduction of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) content in air depend on the application considered. For low concentration and low flux, nonthermal plasma methods are often considered as efficient. However, the complex chemistry involved is still not well understood because there is a lack of data sets of byproducts formation.