Control of combustion by generation of singlet oxygen molecules in electrical discharge

Abstract

The possibility of the combustion enhancement in a supersonic flow of H2-O2 mixture by activation of molecular oxygen in electrical discharge is analyzed. It is demonstrated that abundance of excited oxygen molecules O2(a 1Δg) and O2(b 1‑ g + ) in the oxygen plasma is responsible for accelerating chain-branching reactions and allows one to arrange the stable combustion in a low temperature supersonic flow at a small discharge energy deposited to the gas.