Call: +91-9177734525 | Email: info@opensciencepublications.com

Research Article

Use of Dried Compressed Air to Generate Ozone in Vegetation Exposure Chambers: Quantification of Trace Nitrogen Oxidants Formed During Corona Discharge

Lloyd KL1, Davis DD2, Marini RP1, Decoteau DR1*, Huff AK3 and Brune WH3

1Department of Plant Science, The Pennsylvania State University, USA 2Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, The Pennsylvania State University, USA 3Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science, The Pennsylvania State University, USA
*Corresponding author: Decoteau DR, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA, Email: drd10@ psu.edu
Copyright: © Lloyd KL, et al. 2019. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Article Information: Submission: 31/07/2019; Accepted: 04/09/2019; Published: 07/09/2019

Abstract

Corona discharge ozone (O3) generators provide valuable data on the response of vegetation to O3 exposures. Systems that use dried air as a feed gas,instead of pure or concentrated oxygen (O2), are known to produce trace nitrogen (N) oxidant byproducts that may be toxic to plants. This study quantified the concentration of total N oxidants, including nitrogen oxides (NOx, the sum of NO and NO2), dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5), andnitric acid (HNO3), relative to O3 levels in a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR). The CSTR was part of computer-controlled O3 delivery and monitoring system used to study effects of O3 on vegetation within agreenhouse with charcoal-filtered air. Ozone was generated via corona discharge with dried air as a feed gas, and the system was operated at different O3 output levels and environmental conditions in seven separate trials. At O3 levels up to 330 ppb, total N oxidant concentrations in the CSTR did not exceed 9.2 ppb, when averaged over 60-sec intervals. Across all trials, the relationship between total N oxidants and O3 was described by the equation: oxidants( ) ( ) ( ) 23 ppb 0.0108 3.37 0.46; 205 =   O ppb + = = R n   . In this system, trace N oxidant levels produced under typical experimental conditions are not expected to cause direct toxicity to vegetation. Therefore, corona discharge O3 generators provide a suitable, inexpensive method of O3 production for vegetation exposure studies.