Experimental investigation on DBD plasma reforming hydrocarbon blends

Abstract

To improve the ‘detonation-supporting’ performance of fuel-rich catalytic combustion products, DBD plasma, stimulated by adjustable nanosecond pulse power supply, was used to further regulate the components and concentrations of the hydrocarbon blends. In this paper, the parameters including load voltage, frequency, rising (falling) edge, pulse width and feeding flow rate were changed respectively, and the corresponding concentration and proportion change of the components in blend gas were investigated. According to the experiment result, it was found that when the discharge frequency is low, the plasma mainly promotes the transformation of light gaseous substances, while it mainly promotes the conversion to heavy hydrocarbons when the frequency is larger. Increasing load voltage will strengthen this trend. The controlling and reforming effect of plasma on the blend gas will decrease with the increase of voltage rising (falling) edge and the feeding flow rate. The regulation effect will be strengthened with the increase of pulse width under 200 ns. With the increase of discharge intensity, the ‘carbon’ settles on the walls of the reactor, which will change the dielectric constant, leading to the loss of control of the discharge.