Underwater Discharge and Cell Destruction by Shockwaves

An arc discharge in water can produce a shockwave, ultraviolet radiation and radical species. In this paper, we have investigated arc discharge characteristics and sludge cell destruction by a shockwave. An arc discharge was generated by applying a pulsed voltage of V = 20 30 kV to the tip or coaxial electrodes. The capacitance of C = 30 nF was used. We used the Closed Re ux Titrimetric Method (K2Cr2O7 Oxidation method) to measure the COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) increase caused by cell destruction. The shockwave is produced only by the arc discharge. Shockwave intensity is mostly related to the discharge energy. It is also a function of the discharge circuit, pulse duration, water conductivity, electrode size, gap distance and reactor conguration. However, discharge energy is the most eective parameter of the sludge cell destruction. We introduce a discharge model. The !-R graph is obtained from the experiments. Data on sludge treatment by underwater arc discharge is also presented. KCI Citation Count: 18