Chain mechanism for initiation of hydrocarbon oxidation reactions in a low-temperature plasma

Abstract

A self-consistent model is used for a numerical study of the kinetics of plasma-chemical reactions initiated in a low-temperature gas-discharge plasma in an atmospheric-pressure CH4O2 mixture. An analysis is made of a chain mechanism for the formation of radicals in ion-molecular processes involving water and oxygen molecules, which can appreciably reduce the energy consumption needed to form the oxidation products. It is shown that under the conditions of a non-self-sustained, electron-beam-initiated, atmospheric-pressure discharge the energy consumption needed to produce methanol molecules may, at a few eV, be between four and fives times lower than that in a self-sustained discharge.