The degradation of 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) in aqueous Solution by reactive species generated from gas-phase dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) was investigated. The effects of various parameters such as gas flow rate, input power and initial concentration of DNP on the degradation of DNP were further examined. The reactive species generated from the DBD system were measured. and the DNP degradation pathway was analyzed. The results indicated that all aqueous Solution of 100 mg L-1 DNP was 95.0% degraded and 51% of TOC was removed in 60 min treatment at 60W input power and 7 L min(-1) gas flow rate. The degradation kinetics of DNP was determined to be a pseudo-first-order reaction, which was mainly dependent on the input power, gas flow rate and initial DNP concentrations. The OH. radical was the major reactive species, and played a significant role for the DNP degradation in this Study as humid air was used as the gas Source. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.