The device has two chambers separated by a quartz barrier, which serves as the dielectric. One chamber is at low pressure and is filled with an easily ionized gas such as neon, argon, or xenon. The gas to be processed flows through the second chamber, which is at atmospheric pressure. In the early stages of the project, Dhali is using ordinary air. Alternating current that fluctuates from a low voltage to a high voltage is applied to the device.
Ionization begins first in the low-pressure chamber.
As the plasma forms, it gives off ultraviolet radiation. The beauty of Dhali's idea is that the plasma and the UV light needed to increase its volume are created with the same device, with no additional energy expenditure. And the UV and the voltage will be timed to produce OH radicals as efficiently as possible in the atmospheric-pressure chamber. If the process can be made highly efficient, however, it wouldn't require much in capital costs to scale it up for industry, Dhali says. Dhali envisions several such devices bundled together vertically in each smokestack, dividing the flue gas into several smaller streams for efficiency's sake.