Journal of Hazardous Materials 285 (2015) 525–534 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Hazardous Materials j o ur nal ho me pa ge: www.elsevier.com/locate/jhazmat Removal of ethylene from air stream by adsorption and plasma-catalytic oxidation using silver-based bimetallic catalysts supported on zeolite Quang Hung Trinh, Sang Baek Lee, Young Sun Mok ∗ Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Jeju National University, Jeju 690-756, South Korea h i g h l i g h t s • Energy-efficient VOC abatement by cyclic adsorption/plasma-catalytic treatment. • 13X zeolite-supported Ag and metal oxides as dual functional adsor- bent/catalyst. • Adsorption enhancement by the co- incorporation of Ag and metal oxide into 13X zeolite. • Bimetallic Ag–Fe 2 O 3 capable of effec- tively reducing O 3 and increasing VOC oxidation. g r a p h i c a l a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 18 September 2014 Received in revised form 14 November 2014 Accepted 9 December 2014 Available online 16 December 2014 Keywords: Plasma Catalyst Zeolite Ethylene Silver Metal oxides a b s t r a c t Dynamic adsorption of ethylene on 13X zeolite-supported Ag and Ag–M x O y (M: Co, Cu, Mn, and Fe), and plasma-catalytic oxidation of the adsorbed ethylene were investigated. The experimental results showed that the incorporation of Ag into zeolite afforded a marked enhancement in the adsorptivity for ethylene. The addition of transition metal oxides was found to have a positive influence on the ethylene adsorption, except Fe x O y . The presence of the additional metal oxides, however, appeared to somewhat interrupt the diffusion of ozone into the zeolite micro-pores, leading to a decrease in the plasma-catalytic oxidation efficiency of the ethylene adsorbed there. Among the second additional metal oxides, Fe x O y was able to reduce the emission of ozone during the plasma-catalytic oxidation stage while keeping a high effectiveness for the oxidative removal of the adsorbed ethylene. The periodical treatment consist- ing of adsorption followed by plasma-catalytic oxidation may be a promising energy-efficient ethylene abatement method. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) cause serious problems for environment and human health [1–5]. Among VOCs, ethylene is an important raw material widely used in various industrial reac- tions [6]. Besides, many agricultural commodities produce ethylene ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 64 754 3680; fax: +82 64 755 3670. E-mail address: smokie@jejunu.ac.kr (Y.S. Mok). during storage and transportation [7]. Ethylene can bring about physical and chemical changes in the appearance and texture of fruits and vegetables such as yellowing and softening [8], thereby considerably degrading the quality. Non-thermal plasma (NTP) generated by dielectric barrier dis- charge (DBD) in combination with catalysts has been reported as an effective tool for VOCs abatement [9–12]. Among het- erogeneous catalysts, silver has broadly been used not only for commercial production of ethylene oxide but also for ozone decom- position and deep VOC oxidation [13–22]. In recent years, the http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2014.12.019 0304-3894/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.