The ability of a laboratory-scale dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) nonthermal plasma reactor at atmospheric pressure was assessed for the removal of bisphenol A (1 mg L(-1)) and tributyltin (10 mg L(-1)) from aqueous solutions. The elimination of both the compounds followed an exponential decay equation, and a first-order degradation kinetics was proposed for them (k = 0.662 min(-1) for bisphenol A and k = 0.800 min(-1) for tributyltin), reaching in both cases about 96% removal after 5-min treatment. Accordingly, plasma DBD reactors could be used as alternative advanced oxidation technologies for the removal of some persistent and toxic pollutants from water and wastewater, although further research should be performed to evaluate the effluent toxicity.
