Experimental studies on removal of airborne haloanisoles by non-thermal plasma air purifiers

A laboratory study was conducted to test the performance of non-thermal plasma air purifiers on its removal effectiveness of two haloanisoles – 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA) and 2,4,6-Tribromoanisole (TBA). TCA and TBA are the two major compounds found in wine cellars that can contaminate wine to produce unpalatable mouldy and musty tastes.

The test was first conducted in a climate chamber. The plasma air purifier was installed in a test rig developed for the testing and challenged by airflow with certain concentrations of TCA and TBA. Air samples upstream and downstream of the air purifier was collected by Tenax tubes and the concentration of TCA and TBA were analyzed by thermal desorption GC–MS.

The results showed that the plasma air purifier was effective on removing TCA and TBA with a single pass efficiency of better than 82%. The effect was further validated in a wine cellar under a realistic condition. The concentrations of TCA and TBA in the wine cellar decreased 94% and 50% respectively after running two plasma air purifiers for 5 days.

The non-thermal plasma air purification technology may be used in wine cellar to remove the two airborne contaminants and prevent the wine from being contaminated during storage.