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Thermodynamic Modeling and Kinetic Estimates of the Destruction of Polyol Ester Oils Contaminated With the Hydrofluorocarbon R-134a via Liquid-Injection Incineration Catalyzed by Nonthermal Gliding Arc Plasma
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Thermodynamic Modeling and Kinetic Estimates of the Destruction of Polyol Ester Oils Contaminated With the Hydrofluorocarbon R-134a via Liquid-Injection Incineration Catalyzed by Nonthermal Gliding Arc Plasma

Nicholas Stine, Jitlekha Tubsuri, Mobish Abraham Shaji, Alexander Rabinovich, Christopher M. Sales, Jinjie He, Gregory Fridman, Mira S. Olson and Alexander Fridman
IEEE transactions on plasma science, pp 1-9
2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/TPS.2026.3664317
url
https://doi.org/10.1109/TPS.2026.3664317View
Published, Version of Record (VoR)CC BY-NC-ND V4.0,  Open

Abstract

Thermodynamics Oils Plasmas Incineration Mathematical models Kinetic theory Chemicals Refrigeration Combustion Carbon Gliding arc plasma hazardous waste processing hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) destruction nonthermal plasma thermodynamics Plasma Physics
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) can become contaminated with oil from refrigerator compressors during operation, which renders them ineffective. While HFCs can be reclaimed via distillation, oil contaminated with HFCs is produced as waste. This waste mixture must be destroyed due to its potential to release potent greenhouse gases (GHGs). Liquid-injection incineration (LII) is one method approved by United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for destroying HFC waste. When LII is operated far from thermodynamic equilibrium, the incineration of HFCs, toxic fluorophosgene by-products (COF2 and COHF) are generated. This study aims to analyze the products of HFC-contaminated polyol ester oil (POE) after incineration assisted by nonthermal gliding arc plasma. The thermodynamic equilibrium of HFC, POE, and air mixtures across different oxidation regimes was analyzed using HSC Chemistry 6.0. Kinetic assessments were made using modeling data to identify reactor limitations (i.e.,assuming a plugflow type reactor). We found that excess O2 and supplemental H are needed to suppress fluorophosgene production during the destruction of HFC-POE mixtures. Experimental results were also obtained for the combustion of POE in a laboratory-scale gliding-arc system. As predicted by the thermodynamic model, the ratio of CH2O concentration increased with the equivalence ratio during the experiments.

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