Removal of Ethylene and By-products Using Dielectric Barrier Discharge with Ag Nanoparticle-Loaded Zeolite for Keeping Freshness of Fruits and Vegetables

Some of fresh produces emit ethylene gas, one of plant hormones, which promotes the aging for themselves and accelerates senescence of other agricultural produce. In transportation of some kinds of agricultural produce, reducing ethylene gas in the transportation container is important for keeping freshness of fruits and vegetables. In this study, ethylene gas was decomposed using a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma reactor. The ethylene gas was diluted with the gas mixture of nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide as simulated gas in the transportation container. The DBD plasma was generated by a pulse switching power supply consisted of MOS-FET switching devices, capacitors and pulse transformers. The mixture gas was contained harmful by-products, ozone and carbon monoxide after DBD plasma treatment. An Ag nanoparticle-loaded zeolite was set in the catalytic reactor to remove the by-products. The catalytic reactions reduced the by-products produced by the plasma treatment. It was confirmed that carbon monoxide diluted with simulated dry air was oxidized to carbon dioxide by the catalyst and DBD plasma.