Publication
Title
$CO_{2}$ conversion in a microwave plasma reactor in the presence of $N_{2}$ : elucidating the role of vibrational levels
Author
Abstract
 A chemical kinetics model is developed for a CO2/N2 microwave plasma, focusing especially on the vibrational levels of both CO2 and N2. The model is used to calculate the CO2 and N2 conversion as well as the energy efficiency of CO2 conversion for different power densities and for N2 fractions in the CO2/N2 gas mixture ranging from 0 to 90%. The calculation results are compared with measurements, and agreements within 23% and 33% are generally found for the CO2 conversion and N2 conversion, respectively. To explain the observed trends, the destruction and formation processes of both CO2 and N2 are analyzed, as well as the vibrational distribution functions of both CO2 and N2. The results indicate that N2 contributes in populating the lower asymmetric levels of CO2, leading to a higher absolute CO2 conversion upon increasing N2 fraction. However, the effective CO2 conversion drops because there is less CO2 initially present in the gas mixture; thus, the energy efficiency also drops with rising N2 fraction.
Language
English
Source (journal)
The journal of physical chemistry : C : nanomaterials and interfaces. - Washington, D.C., 2007, currens
Publication
Washington, D.C. : 2015
ISSN
1932-7447 [print]
1932-7455 [online]
Volume/pages
119:23(2015), p. 12815-12828
ISI
000356317500005
Full text (Publishers DOI)
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UAntwerpen
 Faculty/Department Research group Publication type Subject Affiliation Publications with a UAntwerp address