Abstract: To investigate the decomposition characteristics of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), gaseous benzene was introduced into the wirecylinder dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor and degraded by bipolar pulsed high-voltage. The effects of discharge gap, discharge length and Catalyst Mn/ γAl2O3 on the degradation of benzene were studied. The results indicate that: under the same voltage, the reactor with a small discharge gap has the larger injecting energy, which is favorable for the degradation of benzene; the order of the positive effect of discharge gap on the removal of benzene is 3.5 mm>6 mm>8 mm; the decomposition efficiency of benzene increases as the discharge length increases; more benzene is further removed due to the addition of Mn/ γAl2O3; the degradation efficiency of benzene and the carbon oxides selectivity are both improved with the amount of Mn increasing to 15%，91.8% and 94.6% respectively.

Key words: bipolar pulsed highvoltage; dielectric barrier discharge (DBD); benzene; catalysts