Recently

the removal of nitrogen oxide emission by low temperature plasma is a hot topic in the field of researching tail gas purification. We used a new sort of dielectric barrier discharge whose ground electrode was made of sodium hydroxide solution to generate a large-scale and stable non-thermal plasma. By this plasma

the effects of gas treatment time

the gas flow rate

and the concentration of sodium hydroxide solution on the removal rate of nitrogen oxide were studied. The results show that the removal rate of nitrogen oxide is increased with the gas flow rate and solution concentration

and when the nitrogen oxide emission is treated at 1 L/min flow

3 mol/L sodium hydroxide solution

the removal rate can reach the highest level ranging from 87 to 91 percent. When the gas treatment time is over 30 seconds

the removal rate reaches about 90 percent and never remarkably changed. During experiments

the types and distribution characteristics of active groups in plasma were also diagnosed by emission spectroscopy analysis. It can be found that more hydroxide radicals are produced by sodium hydroxide discharges than those using pure water as ground electrode

and hydroxy reactions play a leading role in the process of nitrogen oxide emission treatment.Dielectric barrier discharge whose ground electrode is made of sodium hydroxide solution has a good application prospect in NOx removal.