Review on applying plasma and catalysis for abating the emissions of fluorinated compounds

This review summarizes the reduction of gaseous fluorinated compounds (FCs) with the emphasis on evaluating plasma and catalysis technologies. FCs with high global warming potentials (GWPs) are contributing to climate change and garnering public concern. The emissions of FCs primarily originate from industries such as semiconductor manufacturing processes. To address this issue, various methods including combustion, thermal catalysis, and plasma catalysis have been developed to mitigate FCs emissions. Combustion exhibits a high destruction and removal efficiency (DRE) for perfluorocarbons. However, it requires significant fuel consumption, resulting in high CO₂ emission. On the other hand, thermal catalysis proves to be an effective approach to reducing FCs emissions. The high energy consumption and deactivation of catalysts in thermal catalysis process make it less effective for FCs removal. The conversion of FCs into hydrofluoric acid (HF) further limits the lifespan of the catalyst. On the other hand, plasma technology offers a wide temperature range (from room temperature to over 1000 °C) for decomposing FCs. Both nonthermal plasma (NTP) and thermal plasma (TP) have been shown to effectively reduce FCs emissions. However, TP operated at high temperatures with expensive torch and power supply, while NTP has lower energy efficiency in removing FCs. Applying nonthermal plasma with a catalyst, known as plasma catalysis, shows promise in enhancing the activity, durability, and energy efficiency for FCs removal. This review explains the mechanisms of plasma and catalysis in FCs abatement, identifies the effects associated with catalysis and plasma, and proposes potential strategies for optimizing FCs conversion.