Application of LIF technique for the space- and time-resolved monitoring of pollutant gas decomposition in nonthermal plasma reactors

Abstract

Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) technique aided by intensified CCD light signal detection and fast digital image processing is demonstrated to be a useful diagnostic method for in-situ observation of the discharge-induced plasma-chemistry processes responsible for NO x (NO + NO 2 ) decomposition occurring in non-thermal plasma reactors. In this paper a method and results of the LIF measurement of two-dimensional distribution of the ground-state NO molecule density inside a DC positive streamer corona reactor during NO removal from a flue gas simulator [air/NO(up to 300 ppm)] are presented. Either a needle-to-plate or nozzle-to-plate electrode system, having an electrode gap of 30-50 mm was used for generating the corona discharge in the reactor. The LIF monitoring of NO molecules was carried out under the steady-state DC corona discharge condition. The laser-induced fluorescence on the transition NO X 2 Π(v=0)←A 2 Σ + (v'=0) at λ=226nm was chosen for monitoring ground-state NO molecules in the reactor. This transition was induced by irradiation of the NO molecules with UV laser pulses generated by a laser system consisted of a XeF excimer laser, dye laser and BBO crystal. The laser pulses from the XeF excimer laser (Lambda Physik, Complex 150, λ=351 nm) pumped the dye laser (Lambda Physik, Scanmate) with Coumarin 47 as a dye, which generated the laser beam of a wavelength turned around λ=450 nm. Then, the tuned dye laser beam pumped the BBO crystal in which the second harmonic radiation of a wavelength correspondingly tuned around λ=226 nm was generated. The 226-nm UV laser pulses of energy of 0.8-2 mJ and duration of about 20 ns were transformed into the form of the so-called laser sheet (width of 1 mm, height of 30-50 mm) which passed between the electrodes through the operating gas. The obtained results, presented in the form of images, which illustrated the two-dimensional distributions of NO molecule concentration in the non-thermal reactor, showed that the corona discharge-induced removal of NO molecules occurred not only in the vicinity of the plasma region formed by the corona discharge-induced removal of NO molecules occurred not only in the vicinity of the plasma region formed by the corona streamers and in the downstream region of the reactor but also in the upstream region of the reactor, i.e. before the flue gas simulator has entered the plasma region. This information obtained owing to the LIF technique, is important for the understanding of the plasma-chemistry processes responsible for NO x decomposition in non-thermal plasma reactors and for optimising their performance.