Abstract
We studied the ozone concentrations generated by low-temperature dielectric barrier discharge plasma reactor after adding air and phytoplankton to control the ozone concentrations in seawater. We also examined the numbers of bacteria and Vibrio spp. after treatment using the plasma reactor. As the airflow rate was increased, more ozone was removed. Although marked variation in the ozone decrease was observed with and without airflow, the rate of ozone removal did not increase proportionately with the airflow rates. The ozone concentration decreased with increasing organic matter and time. The amount of organic matter seems to be an important factor decreasing the dissolved ozone concentration in liquid. The ozone concentration was 0.07, 0.32, 1.28, and 2.3 mg/L when operating the plasma reactor for 30, 60, 180, and 300 s, respectively; i.e., the ozone concentration increased with the reactor operating time. The initial numbers of bacteria and Vibrio spp. were 800 and 480 CFU/mL, respectively. After operating the plasma reactor at a flow rate of 6 L/min for 30 s, no bacteria or Vibrio spp. were detected. The disinfection effect of this plasma reactor seems to be superior to that of a conventional ozone generator.
