Electron swarm parameters of alcohols from electron collision cross–sections

Abstract

The rationalization and modeling of an electric discharge in a fluid are enriched with the knowledge of electron swarm parameters. In this work, transport coefficients of several alcohols: methanol, ethanol, propanol, and butanol, are reported. The electron energy distribution function, mean energy, reduced mobility and diffusion coefficient, are calculated using the two-term expansion of the electron Boltzmann equation in the frame of BOLSIG+ and the Monte Carlo collision code METHES. For such, experimental and theoretical values of the electronalcohol collision cross-section, covering a range of electron impact energy from 1 eV to 1000 eV, are employed. A temperature of 300K, reduced fields E/N between 1−104 Td (1Td = 10−21 Vm2), and Plasma density of 1019 m−3 were used in simulations. The calculated coefficients are compared with data available from previous studies.