High Efficiency Removal of Sulfur Mustard Surrogate by Cold Plasma Jet

A novel strategy for the removal of sulfur mustard surrogate (2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide, 2-CEES) by pulsed-driven cold plasma jet was proposed in this work. The effects of pulse frequency and pulse width values were varied to optimize the degradation fraction. A high degradation fraction was obtained using a high pulse frequency or a short pulse width. Under optimal conditions, the degradation fraction reached 100% after 3 min of plasma treatment, corresponding to a degradation rate of 3.34 mu g/min and energy efficiency of 0.4 mu g/W, respectively. The degradation products include 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfoxide (2-CEESO) and 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfone (2- CEESO2), these liquid products further turned into gas products (H2S, HCl, or CO2) after plasma treatment time of 15 min. Further analysis proved that short-lived excited species such as OH, O, and NOx and long-lived reactive species (mainly O-3) play an important role in 2-CEES oxidation and mineralization. The results of this work shed light on the portable design of cold plasma jet for the detoxification of chemical warfare agents (CWAs), which is a clean and energy-saving technique for the removal of CWAs.

Automated summary

A novel strategy using pulsed-driven cold plasma jet was proposed for the removal of sulfur mustard surrogate. Under optimal conditions, the plasma treatment achieved high degradation fraction and the degradation products turned into gas products. Short-lived excited species and long-lived reactive species played an important role in the oxidation and mineralization process. This work shed light on the portable design of cold plasma jet for the detoxification of chemical warfare agents.