Radio Frequency Plasma Treatment of Organic Hazardous Waste

Abstract

A device utilizing radio frequency (RF) energy inductively coupled to a high temperature plasma at ambient pressures has been developed for the processing of surrogate hazardous liquid or gaseous organic waste. The three year research project supported by a grant from the Alaska Science and Technology Foundation has recently completed a three month performance test program to determine the destruction efficiency for an electrodeless plasma with electron temperatures of ∼10,000°C whereby hazardous organic materials may be dissociated into elemental components. The process is managed so that the waste streams exiting the system do not contain undesirable chemical recombinations or other substances that would be prohibitive to practical use as a viable commercial product. A halogenated organic compound, carbon tetrachloride, was processed as a surrogate waste material in compliance with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) analytical protocol. Destruction efficiency results were within regulatory limits for a hazardous waste thermal treatment method.