Enhancing CO2 splitting with Ultra-fast Energy Pulsations in Atmospheric Microwave Plasma Rectors with and without Catalyst

The enhancement in conversion and efficiency of CO2 splitting owing to intermittent, rather than continuous, energy supply was demonstrated in recent experiments in microwave coaxial plasma-torch at atmospheric pressure. It was shown that pulsations with duration of several microseconds and a duty cycle of about 0.25 promote the conversion and efficiency of the CO2 splitting by factor of 2. Moreover, the effective gas temperature control by manipulating pulsation parameters was demonstrated.
In present work, we overview further experimental activities both in coaxial torch and Surfaguide microwave reactors. The conversion and efficiency of the process are studied both in pulsed and continuous wave (CW) plasmas. The diagnostics system features fast power meters for monitoring absorbed microwave power and an advanced
gas analyzer for reaction products (CO, CO2, O2, H2, CH4) as well as an ultra-fast optical emission spectrometer for estimating vibrational and rotational temperatures of plasma.