Exhaust gas treating apparatus

An exhaust gas treatment apparatus placed in an exhaust system of a combustion gas and used for collecting and removing particulate matter contained in an exhaust gas, the treatment apparatus characterized by comprising:

• a casing connected to the exhaust system to serve as a main flow path of the exhaust gas;
• a honeycomb filter placed in the inside of the casing in such a manner that interrupts the main flow path, the honeycomb filter having a plurality of cells partitioned by partition walls to serve as filter flow paths of the exhaust gas and collecting the particulate matter contained in the exhaust gas;
• and plasma generation electrodes composed of a pulse electrode and an earth electrode placed in such a manner that at least one of them is in contact with the honeycomb filter, the plasma generation electrodes being capable of generating nonthermal plasma between the pulse electrode and the earth electrode,
• wherein the particulate matter contained in the exhaust gas flowing into the casing is collected by the honeycomb filter, nitrogen monoxide contained in the exhaust gas is oxidized to nitrogen dioxide by the nonthermal plasma generated between the pulse electrode and the earth electrode constituting the plasma generation electrodes, combustible materials in the particulate matter collected and deposited on the surface of the partition walls are removed through oxidation by the nitrogen dioxide produced and, thereby, the honeycomb filter can be regenerated.