Dissociation of benzene and methylene chloride based on enhanced dissociative electron attachment to highly excited molecules

We present preliminary results on a low-pressure glow-discharge-based process for the destruction of dilute concentrations of volatile organic compounds. Methylene chloride and benzene were studied in dilute mixtures with Ar, Ne and He rare gases. The destruction efficiency was observed to increase with increasing pressure. This and other observations are compatible with molecular dissociation by dissociative electron attachment to high-lying Rydberg states of molecules produced via excitation transfer from the metastable states of the rare gases.