Numerical and experimental study of an Ar/CO2 plasma in a point-to-plane reactor at atmospheric pressure

Abstract

The applicability of high voltage electrical discharge to reform Carbon Dioxide (CO2) as an environmental pollutant is a technique extensively proved. By this motive, the study of plasma with pure CO2 or its mixtures with other gases is the current interest. In this work, the physical and technical characteristics of a positive direct-current plasma discharge of an Ar/CO2 mixture in a point-to-plane reactor is experimentally and numerically analyzed, and its dependence on Ar fraction studied. Through the optical emission spectroscopy method, the experiments are performed to analyze the emitted spectra from the plasma discharge of the Ar/CO2 mixture. The rotation, vibration, and excitation temperatures and the electron density are also obtained. It was found that all the temperatures decrease as the argon ratio in the Ar/CO2 mixtures increases. Besides, using a 2D PIC-MCC method, the density of three charged species and excitation temperatures are spatially and temporally computed. At the study conditions, a relatively good experimental/modeling agreement is observed for the density and temperature of electrons. Also, the spatial and temporal variations of electric potential and total current density in the discharge medium are numerically calculated by this model, allow us to know the electric characteristic of the discharge.