Effect of voltage waveform on dielectric barrier discharge ozone production efficiency

Abstract

Dielectric barrier discharges (DBD) are commonly used for gas effluent cleanup and ozone generation. For these applications, the energy efficiency of the discharge is a major concern. This paper reports on investigations carried out on the voltage shape applied to DBD reactor electrodes, aiming to evaluate a possible energy efficiency improvement for ozone production. Two DBD reactor geometries were used; pin-to-pin and cylinder-to-cylinder, both driven either by a bi-directional power supply (voltage rise rate 1 kV/µs) or a pulsed power supply (voltage rise rate 1 kV/ns). Ozone formed in dry air was measured at the reactor outlet. Special attention was paid to discharge input power evaluation using different methods including instantaneous current-voltage product and transferred charge-applied voltage figures. The charge transferred by the discharges was also correlated to the ozone production. It is shown that, in the case of the DBD reactors under investigation, the applied voltage shape has no influence on the ozone production efficiency. For the considered voltage rise rate, the charge deposit on the dielectric inserted inside the discharge gap is the important factor (as opposed to the voltage shape) governing the efficiency of the discharge -it does this by tailoring the duration of the current peak into the tens of nanoseconds range.

Effects of non-thermal plasma on the lean blowout limits and CO/NOx emissions in swirl-stabilized turbulent lean-premixed flames of methane/air

“…7 and SM-IV). Since the DBD reactor can generate ozone without strong streamers [66,67], we conjecture that ozone generated by the DBD reactor could affect chemical reactions near flame region, enhancing the combustion in Regime III and ultimately extending the LBO limits. Henceforth, we refer to it as the 'ozone effect', which is actually related to the kinetic effect of NTP to generate radicals such as O, O 3 , and NO [32,33].…”

Fluid modelling of CO2 dissociation in a dielectric barrier discharge

“…One example is the ozone generation in dielectric barrier discharges. 71,72 However, here the ozone yield scales with the specific energy input only over a limited parameter range because of the thermal destruction of ozone at elevated temperatures. 72…”

Influence of the voltage waveform’s shape and on-time duration on the dissolved ozone produced by a DBD bubble reactor

“…There are limited studies related to the influence of the shape of the applied voltage waveform on the production of ozone [16,17], although unipolar waveforms have been found to be less efficient than bipolar waveform in asymmetric DBDs, a difference attributed to charge accumulation on the electrode barrier [6].…”