An arc channel tends to shrink due to its conductivity increasing with the increase of temperature. In this study, to generate large area arc plasma, we construct a magnetically rotating arc plasma generator, which mainly consists of a lanthanide tungsten cathode （13 mm in diameter）, a concentric cylindrical graphite anode chamber （60 nun in diameter） and a solenoid coil for producing an axial magnet field. By controlling the cold gas flow, the magnetically rotating arc evolves from constricted mode to diffuse mode, which almost fills the whole arc chamber cross section. Results show that the diffuse arc plasma has better uniformity and stability. The formation mechanism of large area arc plasma is discussed in this paper.
A model coupling the plasma with a cathode body is applied in the simulation of the diffuse state of a magnetically rotating arc.Four parametric studies are performed：on the external axial magnetic field（AMF）,on the cathode shape,on the total current and on the inlet gas velocity.The numerical results show that：the cathode attachment focuses in the center of the cathode tip with zero AMF and gradually shifts off the axis with the increase of AMF;a larger cathode conical angle corresponds to a cathode arc attachment farther away off axis;the maximum values of plasma temperature increase with the total current;the plasma column in front of the cathode tip expands more severely in the axial direction,with a higher inlet speed;the cathode arc attachment shrinks towards the tip as the inlet speed increases.The various results are supposed to be explained by the joint effect of coupled cathode surface heating and plasma rotating flow.
A novel corona inducing dielectric barrier discharge(CIDBD) and catalyst hybrid reactor was developed for reforming methane. This corona inducing technique allows dielectric barrier discharge(DBD) to occur uniformly in a large gap at relatively low applied voltage.Hydrogen production by reforming methane with steam and air was investigated with the hybrid reactor under atmospheric pressure and temperatures below 600°C.The effects of input power,O2/C molar ratio and preheat temperature on methane conversion and hydrogen selectivity were investigated experimentally.It was found that higher methane conversions were obtained at higher discharge power,and methane conversion increased significantly with input power less than 50 W;the optimized molar ratio of O2/C was 0.6 to obtain the highest hydrogen selectivity(112%);under the synergy of dielectric barrier discharge and catalyst,methane conversion was close to the thermodynamic equilibrium conversion rate.
ZHOU ZhiPeng ZHANG JiMin YE TaoHong ZHAO PingHui XIA WeiDong
Non-thermal C/H/Ar plasmas are widely applied to carbonaceous material production and processing.In this work,plasma parameters and gaseous species of the atmospheric non-thermal C/H/Ar plasmas produced by an atmospheric-pressure DC arc discharge generator in CH_4/Ar were investigated.The voltage-current characteristics were measured for different CH_4/Ar ratios.Optical emission spectroscopy was employed to analyze the electron excitation temperature,gas temperature and electron density under various discharge conditions.The hydrocarbon molecules produced in the CH4/Ar plasmas were detected with photoionization mass spectrometry.The optical spectral results demonstrated that the electron excitation temperature was 0.4-1 eV,the gas temperature was 2800-4200 K and the electron density was in the range of（5-20）×10^15 cm^-3.The mass spectrum indicated that a variety of unsaturated hydrocarbons（C2H4,C3H6,C6H6,etc.） and several highly unsaturated hydrocarbons（C4H2,C5H6,etc.） were produced in the non-thermal arc plasmas.
