The Removal of Single and Binary Components of Hydrogen Sulfide and Dimethyl Disulfide in a Post-Plasma Catalysis Reactor: The Correlation of the Ozone Demand Factor with Specific Input Energy

Odorous gases such as hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) pose significant risks to human health and environmental quality. Non-thermal plasma (NTP) technology offers an effective alternative for odor treatment, but challenges remain regarding byproduct formation (e.g., ozone) and energy efficiency. In this study, a post-plasma catalysis (PPC) system combining a wire cylinder pulsed corona discharge reactor with a CuO/MnO2-C ozone decomposition catalyst was employed to remove single and binary components of H2S and DMDS. The effects of specific input energy (SIE), inlet concentration (Cin), and catalyst on removal efficiency, energy yield, and ozone emission were systematically investigated. A novel parameter, the ozone demand factor (Df), was defined to quantify the relationship between ozone consumption and pollutant removal. The results show that for single-component removal, regulating SIE/Cin within specific ranges (0.22–0.25 for H2S and ~0.72 for DMDS) enables simultaneous low outlet concentrations of both pollutants and ozone. For binary H2S-DMDS mixtures, ln(Df) exhibits a strong linear positive correlation with SIE/Σ(Cin) (R2 = 0.968), and controlling SIE/Σ(Cin) at 0.28 yields ln(Df) ≈ 4, ensuring outlet H2S < 5.0 ppm, DMDS < 3.0 ppm, and ozone < 5.0 ppm. This study demonstrates that the ozone demand factor serves as a critical control parameter for optimizing PPC systems, providing a practical tool for balancing pollutant removal and ozone emission in industrial odor treatment applications.