CO 2 conversion in a gliding arc plasma: Performance improvement based on chemical reaction modeling

Sun, Su‐Rong; Wang, Hai‐Xing; Mei, Danhua; Tu, Xin; Bogaerts, Annemie

doi:10.1016/j.jcou.2016.12.009

Cited by 112 publications

(130 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…Indeed, no overpopulation of the higher vibrational levels was observed in Figure5.T he same behavior was also observed in aG AP and ac lassical GA operating in pure CO 2 , [5,[83][84][85] as well as in MW plasma in pure CO 2 operating at atmosphericp ressure. Indeed, no overpopulation of the higher vibrational levels was observed in Figure5.T he same behavior was also observed in aG AP and ac lassical GA operating in pure CO 2 , [5,[83][84][85] as well as in MW plasma in pure CO 2 operating at atmosphericp ressure.…”

Section: Calculated Plasmac Haracteristicssupporting

confidence: 72%

“…The vibrational temperature of the asymmetric mode levels was calculated to be approximately 3400 Ki nside the arc and approximately2 800 Ki nt he thermal area around the arc, which (more or less) corresponds to the gas temperature adopted in both regions.T his indicated that the VDF was quasi-thermal. Indeed, no overpopulation of the higher vibrational levels was observed in Figure5.T he same behavior was also observed in aG AP and ac lassical GA operating in pure CO 2 , [5,[83][84][85] as well as in MW plasma in pure CO 2 operating at atmosphericp ressure. [86] Overpopulation of the higher levels has only been observed in aM Wp lasma at reduced pressure [86][87][88][89] because of the less important role of thermalization owing to vibration-translation relaxation.…”

Section: Calculated Plasmac Haracteristicssupporting

confidence: 72%

“…However,c lassical GA faces limitations such as limited gas conversionb ecause of the short residence time of the gas inside the plasma column. [5][6][7] Therefore, in recent years, some new designs have been developedb ased on cylindrical electrodes and at angential gas inlet, which yields av ortex flow and allowst he gas to stay inside the plasma for al ongert ime, resulting in ah igherc onversion.O ne such type of novel GA is the so-called glidinga rc plasmatron (GAP), developed at Drexel University by Nunnally et al [8] The GAP hasb een demonstrated to yield good energy efficiency for pure CO 2 conversion [8,9] but has not been applied for DRM. However,o ther cylindrical (e.g.,s o-called tornado-typeo rr otating) GA designshave been applied for DRM and have exhibited very promising results.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dry Reforming of Methane in a Gliding Arc Plasmatron: Towards a Better Understanding of the Plasma Chemistry

et al. 2017

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Dry reforming of methane (DRM) in a gliding arc plasmatron is studied for different CH fractions in the mixture. The CO and CH conversions reach their highest values of approximately 18 and 10 %, respectively, at 25 % CH in the gas mixture, corresponding to an overall energy cost of 10 kJ L (or 2.5 eV per molecule) and an energy efficiency of 66 %. CO and H are the major products, with the formation of smaller fractions of C H (x=2, 4, or 6) compounds and H O. A chemical kinetics model is used to investigate the underlying chemical processes. The calculated CO and CH conversion and the energy efficiency are in good agreement with the experimental data. The model calculations reveal that the reaction of CO (mainly at vibrationally excited levels) with H radicals is mainly responsible for the CO conversion, especially at higher CH fractions in the mixture, which explains why the CO conversion increases with increasing CH fraction. The main process responsible for CH conversion is the reaction with OH radicals. The excellent energy efficiency can be explained by the non-equilibrium character of the plasma, in which the electrons mainly activate the gas molecules, and by the important role of the vibrational kinetics of CO . The results demonstrate that a gliding arc plasmatron is very promising for DRM.

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Section: Calculated Plasmac Haracteristicssupporting

confidence: 72%

Section: Calculated Plasmac Haracteristicssupporting

confidence: 72%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dry Reforming of Methane in a Gliding Arc Plasmatron: Towards a Better Understanding of the Plasma Chemistry

et al. 2017

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“…To improve the applications (i.e., mainly gas conversion), the physical and chemical characteristics of the gliding arc have been extensively studied experimentally . Furthermore, computer modelling of the plasma chemistry and reactor design is also very useful in providing more insight into the underlying reaction mechanisms of plasma‐assisted gas conversion or synthesis, for example, by evaluating quantities that are difficult to measure, and by identifying the most important chemical reactions or parameters . However, only a few papers in literature deal with modelling of a gliding arc .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrogen Fixation by Gliding Arc Plasma: Better Insight by Chemical Kinetics Modelling

et al. 2017

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The conversion of atmospheric nitrogen into valuable compounds, that is, so-called nitrogen fixation, is gaining increased interest, owing to the essential role in the nitrogen cycle of the biosphere. Plasma technology, and more specifically gliding arc plasma, has great potential in this area, but little is known about the underlying mechanisms. Therefore, we developed a detailed chemical kinetics model for a pulsed-power gliding-arc reactor operating at atmospheric pressure for nitrogen oxide synthesis. Experiments are performed to validate the model and reasonable agreement is reached between the calculated and measured NO and NO yields and the corresponding energy efficiency for NO formation for different N /O ratios, indicating that the model can provide a realistic picture of the plasma chemistry. Therefore, we can use the model to investigate the reaction pathways for the formation and loss of NO . The results indicate that vibrational excitation of N in the gliding arc contributes significantly to activating the N molecules, and leads to an energy efficient way of NO production, compared to the thermal process. Based on the underlying chemistry, the model allows us to propose solutions on how to further improve the NO formation by gliding arc technology. Although the energy efficiency of the gliding-arc-based nitrogen fixation process at the present stage is not comparable to the world-scale Haber-Bosch process, we believe our study helps us to come up with more realistic scenarios of entering a cutting-edge innovation in new business cases for the decentralised production of fertilisers for agriculture, in which low-temperature plasma technology might play an important role.

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“…In conjunction with PSA, plasma technology can be easily switched on and off when in demand rather than operate as a continuous process, although it is capable also of doing this. Various studies into CO2 reduction in non-thermal plasmas have been conducted in different plasma systems (Savinov et al, 2002;Indarto et al, 2007;Aerts et al, 2012;Bogaerts et al, 2015;van Rooij et al, 2015;Sun et al, 2017). However, to-date, there have been no literature reports of any integrated capture and utilization processes detailed in their published work.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated CO2 Capture and Utilization Using Non-Thermal Plasmolysis

et al. 2017

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In this work, two simple processes for carbon dioxide (CO2) such as capture and utilization have been combined to form a whole systems approach to carbon capture and utilization (CCU). The first stage utilizes a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) system, which offers many benefits over current amine technologies. It was found that high selectivity can be achieved with rapid adsorption/desorption times while employing a cheap, durable sorbent that exhibits no sorbent losses and is easily regenerated by simple pressure drops. The PSA system is capable of capturing and upgrading the CO2 concentration of a waste gas stream from 12.5% to a range of higher purities. As many CCU end processes have some tolerance toward impurities in the feed, in the form of nitrogen (N2), for example, this is highly advantageous for this PSA system since CO2 purities in excess of 80% can be achieved with only a few steps and minimal energy input. Nonthermal plasma is one such technology that can tolerate, and even benefit from, small N2 impurities in the feed, therefore a 100% pure CO2 stream is not required. The second stage of this process deploys a nanosecond pulsed corona discharge reactor to split the captured CO2 into carbon monoxide (CO), which can then be used as a chemical feedstock for other syntheses. Corona discharge has proven industrial applications for gas cleaning and the benefit of pulsed power reduces the energy consumption of the system. The wire-in-cylinder geometry concentrates the volume of gas treated into the area of high electric field. Previous work has suggested that moderate conversions can be achieved (9%), compared to other non-thermal plasma methods, but with higher energy efficiencies (>60%).

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CO 2 conversion in a gliding arc plasma: Performance improvement based on chemical reaction modeling

Cited by 112 publications

References 84 publications

Dry Reforming of Methane in a Gliding Arc Plasmatron: Towards a Better Understanding of the Plasma Chemistry

Dry Reforming of Methane in a Gliding Arc Plasmatron: Towards a Better Understanding of the Plasma Chemistry

Nitrogen Fixation by Gliding Arc Plasma: Better Insight by Chemical Kinetics Modelling

Integrated CO2 Capture and Utilization Using Non-Thermal Plasmolysis

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