Plasma nitrogen oxides synthesis in a milli-scale gliding arc reactor : investigating the electrical and process parameters

Nitrogen fixed in the form of nitrogen oxides is essential to produce fertilizers and many other chemical products, which is vital to sustain life. The performance of a milli-scale gliding arc reactor operated under atmospheric pressure has been studied for nitrogen oxides synthesis. In this work, the electrical and process parameters of the gliding arc reactor, such as frequency, pulse width, amplitude and feed ratio were investigated respectively. The experiments were performed at 1 L/min in a gliding arc discharge regime. The highest concentration of NO_x was found to be ~1 % at energy consumption of 10 kWh/kg of NO_x. Increase in frequency, pulse width and amplitude resulted in an increased specific energy input and NO_x concentration. The feed ratio (N₂/O₂) affected the amount of NO and NO₂ produced, which gives possibility to independently obtain the desired ratio of NO/NO₂ by tuning the electrical and process parameters.