Microsoft PowerPoint - AirPhaser Odor VOC Control 2015a Abr DJM

Typical odor control systems are slightly less than 100 % effective, for example 98%
or so.
Also, with this technology there is a residual ozone in the emitted air that can range
from 0.5 to 2.0 ppm. The use of an appropriately designed stack is an important part
of the odor solution equipment. In typical CALPUF modeling, recognized by the
EPA, we see a usual stack dispersion of around 200 to 1. This means that by the
time the air exiting the stack reaches the property line, it has been diluted by around
200 times. So with ozone at its worst exit concentration of 2.0 ppm, dividing this by
200 results in a concentration of 0.01 ppm, or 10 parts per billion which is well under
the EPA monitoring limit. Also of note, is that this ozone is not combined with the
typical components of smog such as NOx and VOC’s, so the ozone concentration
reduction according to the half-life occurs and it converts back to oxygen.
Air Phaser Environmental Ltd by: Douglas Lanz, President
Chilliwack, BC, Canada. (604) 308-7435
www.airphaser.com 1

www.airphaser.com 2
What you see in this background is an actual, energized, non-thermal plasma (NTP)
field. This view is looking “through” the field, which glows due to the energetic
electrons in the (approximately 6mm) air gaps between the electrodes, through
which the air passes. All airborne molecules such as oxygen, nitrogen and odorous
compounds have their ionic and covalent bonds disrupted in this field, making them
all highly chemically reactive with the most reactive compound formed being atomic
oxygen. These compounds then immediately interact through gas phase oxidation
and reduction pathways resulting in the odorous compounds being transformed to
reduced compounds that are non-odorous. Some compounds will decompose to
their fully oxidized form such as carbon dioxide, water vapor (in the case of
hydrogen) and gas phase nitrogen. These reactions start in the NTP field and
continue after the air exists the NTP field with most of them being completed within
½ second, while some continue on for 2 or 3 seconds in the case where residual
ozone is present.

www.airphaser.com 3
So, how does it work?
• 2 electrodes with a dielectric barrier separating them and a gas space for the air
to pass through, are energized by HVAC (high voltage alternating current).
• It actually is an “old” technology.
• It was discovered in 1887 by W. von Siemens.
• Picture the spark generated by a car spark plug. Multiply that exponentially. The
sparks, or micro-discharges as they are termed, fill the gas space. This has the
effect of liberating the outer shell electrons from the atomic orbital, without
heating the protons or neutrons; hence it is called Non-Thermal Plasma. That is
because the electrons are free due to high voltage rather than heat as in the case
of an high intensity arc such as lightning or in the stars.
The systems we have developed use multiple electrodes in an array, with many
arrays in parallel to handle large volumes of air. Should one of the arrays have a
temporary problem, the many other arrays remain operating keeping the odor
control system on line and effective. Our system design incorporates is specifically
designed to be robust, redundant and fault tolerant

www.airphaser.com 4
Some of the characteristics of a non-thermal plasma are shown here.
Take particular note of the bottom point: It describes the active species, N2, O2, N,
O, OH and so on all in various ionization states.
These species are many times more reactive than chlorine and are in gas phase, so
they are very effective and very fast. Any VOC’s in this field are similarly disrupted
which facilitates the gas phase reactions of oxidation and reduction.
What happens in the non-thermal plasma field is that the electron activity also
causes ionic and electron oscillations which further help with decomposing
hydrocarbons and in their oxidation/reduction. That is why, instead of many multiple
arcs, you see the entire area in a “purple glow”.

5
This is one way to configure an Air Phaser system. If the air stream has no
particulate and is non-condensing, then all the air can flow through the electrodes
(shown as the red box), gaining the benefit of the intense plasma field in oxidizing
the odors and VOC’s in the air stream. This is typically used in cases where the
VOC concentration is in the higher end, typically from 5 to over 100 ppm. This
method can apply from 1 to 35 watts per cubic foot of air per minute and is best
where high intensity treatment is needed.
Some applications will need an ozone destruction stage after the plasma section.
This is because an intense plasma field also creates ozone in high concentrations
(up to 90ppm) and such must be brought back to acceptable levels prior to
environmental release. There is an added benefit to this, however. There are a few
options and additional benefits with this stage because it also acts as a catalyst.
Activated carbon will adsorb remaining VOC’s and in catalyzing ozone it
reduces the ozone to oxygen singlet which then reacts with the surface
adsorbed VOC’s to provide further oxidation. Additionally, ozone helps create
more micro pores on the surface of the activated carbon. The activated
carbon will need to be replaced in a routine maintenance cycle, however it
lasts much longer than when used as a simple adsorbent.

Manganese oxide also behaves similarly to activated carbon. It is more
expensive, however it has the advantage be able to be doped with other
catalytic element's such as low levels (less than 1%) of palladium, nano-gold
or other compounds to act as a much more efficient catalyst. More research is
needed with this option, however it has the possibility of a much longer lifetime
than activated carbon, acting as a true VOC catalyst at room temperature,
achieving nearly 100% DRE (destruction removal efficiency).
www.airphaser.com 5

6
In cases where the VOC’s are very dilute, perhaps 5 ppm or lower, the compounds
in the air can be oxidized to non-odorous or environmentally safe forms using 5
watts per cfm or lower.
In some cases where the VOC’s can be detected in the parts per billion range and
roughly 0.5 watts per cfm is needed, then 25% of the air flow can go through the Air
Phaser plasma field to create the reactive oxygen species to treat the other 75% of
the air flow. A slide near the end of this presentation shows a fish feed factory that
uses 20,000 cfm to treat 80,000 cfm so that the net 100,000 cfm is treated using
this method.

7
This system is almost identical to the previous slide, except here the air to be
treated might be dirty or condensing, so we use ambient air to activate the air to be
mixed and reacted with the air to be treated.

8
This is a photo of one such system in operation. While the previous chemistry slides
describes the oxidation of the VOC’s in terms of chemical reactants, another
viewpoint is that this purple glow is really millions of electrical micro-arcs that are
“burning” the VOC’s without using a flame.
This non-thermal plasma also destroys smoke particles such as blue smoke from
curing oil filters, welding smoke and diesel soot. Once the air passes through the
NTP field, the particles are completely burned. Soot and smoke micro particles don’t
react with ozone, yet are destroyed in this field due to the intense electrical micro-
arc activity, which supports the “combustion” viewpoint.
Air Phaser Environmental Ltd. by: Douglas Lanz
Surrey, BC, Canada. (604) 308-7435
www.airphaser.com 8

Effectiveness
The DG JRC is responsible for the Institute of Prospective Technological Studies
under the auspices of the European Commission. One role this organisation has
undertaken is the publication of “Reference Documents on the Best Available
Techniques” for Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control in various industries. In
January 2006 the IPPC published a document concerning the Food, Drink and Milk
Industries(1). This document, which according to the Directive must be consulted
when permitting industries in Europe, addresses the use of non-thermal plasma.
The document states that the equipment is proven to reduce emissions by 75-96%
depending upon the design, process conditions, and odour characteristics. Results
from application in two fish meal plants are provided. Inlet concentrations on
average were in the 16,000 OU/m3 range and outlet concentrations were between
1600 and 3200 OU/m3 producing reduction efficiencies of 80%±4% and 90%±1%.
1IPPC, 2006. Reference Document on BAT in the Food, Drink and Milk
Industries. Published for the DG JRC under Article 16(2) of Council Directive
96/61/EC.
9

Typical odor control systems are slightly less than 100 % effective, for example 98%
or so.
Also, with this technology there is a residual ozone in the emitted air ranging from
0.5 to 2.0 ppm. The use of an appropriately designed stack is an important part of
the odor solution equipment. In typical CALPUF modeling, recognized by the EPA,
we see a usual dispersion of around 200 to 1. this means that by the time the air
exiting the stack reaches the property line, it has been diluted by around 200 times.
So with ozone at its worst exit concentration of 2.0 ppm, dividing this by 200 results
in a concentration of 0.01 ppm, or 10 parts per billion which is well under the EPA
monitoring limit. Also of note, is that this ozone is not combined with the typical
components of smog such as NOx and VOC’s, so the ozone concentration
reduction according to the half-life occurs and it converts back to oxygen.
www.airphaser.com 10

This fish meal production example uses just under 1 watt / cfm for its odor treatment
needs and is typical of most biological source odor treatment systems.
To find the power needed for other applications, a site test is recommended to see
how many watts / cfm is needed for the particular process being considered. Some
really odorous applications need as much as 2.5 watts / cfm (really smelly compost
operations) and some solvent type VOC treatment applications can use as much as
10 or more watts / cfm. This is why we recommend testing on new applications to
evaluate just what the power need will be on new situations to us where there is a
mix of different VOC compounds.
The Air Phaser can be configured to handle almost any requirement.

This slide shows the modular design and the expandability of the Air Phaser
system. Here we have 3 units in parallel configured to treat odorous air by injecting
activated air as shown in the schematic diagram of slide 7.

This particular platform treats 55,000 cfm of air from a municipal waste (garbage)
composting facility.
The Air Phaser units are the cabinets in operation on the mezzanine (green lights).
Each unit can treat a nominal 4,000 cfm but can change the air flow depending on
the power per unit volume needed.
The installation is comprised of 15 units (there are identical units on the opposite
side that cannot be seen in this photo).
Should any unit go offline for any reason, the air is automatically distributed to the
other units and continues to be treated.

16
This portable module was designed to treat approximately 500 cfm of odorous air,
with the total power in the system being adjustable up to 5.0 kW. The unit runs off
240 V single or 3 phase power.
Part of our Feasibility Study determines the actual watts/volume needed to treat the
clients process air.
The system has full adjustment of air flow, power and frequency. Both inlet and
outlet air can be analyzed.
Once these factors are known, we are then able to design a system for each
particular application with the client’s participation on site.
Even in applications where the design parameters are already known, an on-site
demonstration of the system’s effectiveness may be helpful.

Air Phaser systems can also be added as a “polishing” or secondary treatment to
existing systems whose odor reduction performance is less than what is needed by
the overall facility.

Microsoft PowerPoint - AirPhaser Odor VOC Control 2015a Abr DJM

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