Effects of pulse frequency of input power on the physical and chemical properties of pulsed streamer discharge plasmas in water

Abstract

A repetitive pulsed-power modulator, which employs a magnetic pulse compression circuit with a high-speed thyristor switch, was used to study the effects of the pulse repetition rate of input power on the physical and chemical properties of pulsed discharges in water. Positive high-voltage pulses of 20 kV with repetition rates of up to 1 kHz were used to generate a discharge in water using the point-to-plane electrode geometry. By varying the pulse repetition rate, two distinct modes of the discharge plasma were formed in water. The first mode was characterized by the formation of a corona-like discharge propagating through water in the form of streamer channels. The second mode was formed typically above 500 Hz, when the formation of streamer channels in water was suppressed and all plasmas occurred inside a spheroidal aggregate of very fine gas bubbles surrounding the tip of the high-voltage electrode. The production of hydrogen peroxide, degradation of organic dye Acid Orange 7 (AO7) and inactivation of bacteria Escherichia coli by the discharge in water were studied under different discharge plasma modes in dependence on the pulse repetition rate of input power. The efficiency of both chemical and biocidal processes induced by the plasma in water decreased significantly with pulse repetition rates above 500 Hz.