Suitability of thermal plasma for solid waste treatment and non-thermal plasma for nano-scale high-tech plasmonic materials: a concise review

In the recent past, plasma waste technology has emerged to be an environmental friendly and beneficial technology. In this review, current status of thermal plasma, non-thermal plasma and its application for nano-scale high-tech plasmonic materials based on the scientific and technical comprehensive observation are included. Generally, thermal plasma is used for solid waste treatment but non-thermal plasma is being utilized for plasmonic materials. The current research incorporated in two phases: thermal plasma and non-thermal plasma. In the first phase, understanding and detailed information about plasma torches have been included such as DC transfer and non-transfer arc plasma torches. In addition, solid waste treatment, municipal waste, healthcare issue, steel making and treatment through plasma jet injection have been reviewed extensively. In the second phase, state-of-the-art review has been addressed for dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) and its utility for plasmonic materials. The analysis concluded that the thermal plasma is the optimal choice for treating solid waste issues and the application of non-thermal plasma such as DBD is the most useful and latest approach for plasmonic material. The prime objective of this review is not only to provide the comparison between thermal or non-thermal plasma but to recommend the ideal and most optimized suitable technique for solid waste treatment and bio-medical applications.