Electron-impact dissociation of molecular nitrogen in atmospheric-pressure nonthermal plasma reactors

Abstract

This letter presents measurements of the specific energy consumption (eV per molecule) for electron-impact dissociation of N2 (e+N2→e+N+N) in a pulsed corona and an electron beam reactor. Measurements were done using 100 pm of NO in N2. In this mixture the removal of NO is dominated by the reduction reaction N+NO→N2+O. By measuring the specific energy consumption for reduction of NO, these experiments provide a good measure of the specific energy consumption for electron-impact dissociation of N2. The specific energy consumption using pulsed corona processing is 480 eV per dissociated N2 molecule. For electron beam processing, the specific energy consumption is 80 eV per dissociated N2 molecule.

Effect of Reactor Design on the Plasma Treatment of NOx

“…Details of the model are discussed by Penetrante et al [2][3]. The dominant reaction in this mixture is the reduction of NO to N 2 via reaction (1).…”

“…Glass wool packings with densities of 0.12 g/cm 3 and 0.30 g/cm 3 , as well as a system with no packing, were used. Packing the reactor gas space results in a change in the electrical power input to the discharge plasma.…”

“…The experiments were conducted using a glass wool packing of density 0.12 g/cm 3 , and a gas mixture of 250 ppm NO in N 2 at room temperature.…”

Sulfur Tolerance of Selective Partial Oxidation of NO to NO2 in a Plasma

“…All electrical discharge plasma reactors accomplish essentially the same gas-phase plasma chemistry under the same gas conditions [17][18][19][20].…”

“…Details of the plasma chemistry model used here are discussed by Penetrante et al [16][17][18][19][20][21]. Electron-impact processes in the plasma produces ions and radicals.…”