2009 Volume 51 Issue 158 Pages 268-272
The direct and indirect plasma aided combustion technology is presented. First, the direct plasma aided combustion technology is introduced based on the review article by Starikovskii et al. They used ultrashort pulsed discharge as a non-thermal plasma source to generate various reactive species in the combustible gas mixtures such as (CH4~C5H12)/O2/Ar(~90%). Among the reactive species, atomic oxygen plays the principle role that greatly shorten the ignition delay time. Heat generated by non-thermal plasma also contributes to enhance ignition performance; however, gas heating is less important than radical production as far as gas heating is lower than 100℃. Finally, indirect plasma aided combustion technology is presented. The principle is based on pre-reforming of low-calorific fuels such as biogas where CH4 content is approximately 60% or even less. We proposed plasma-catalyst hybrid reaction where catalyst is activated by low-temperature (400-500℃) exhaust gas from internal combustion engine; whereas CH4 steam reforming is enhanced in a large degree by applying non-thermal plasma. As a result, combustibility of hydrogen enriched low-calorific fuel is greatly improved.
