Résumé
Wastewater samples from liquid effluents of cotton oil refinery in Far-Northern Cameroon were exposed to a gliding arc discharge for various exposure times in a cold plasma reactor. The analysed results showed high levels of organic pollution parameters (TOC = 4635 mg/L, COD = 6943, 98 mg/L) before treatment. More than 56% TOC and 75% COD abatement were obtained after 30 min treatment in batch conditions with a laboratory reactor. The resultant pollution abatement is attributed both to strong oxidizing effects of °OH and NO° radicals formed in the plasma and their derivatives (H2O2, ONO2H and NO3H). The conductivity and TDS increase linearly and the pH, TOC and COD decrease with increasing exposure time to the discharge. The oxidation obeys a pseudo first-order kinetics law (kinetic rate: k1DCO = 0, 0381 min−1 and k1COT = 0, 0245 min−1).