Abstract
Heat and mass transfer as well as chemical reactions in technical processes can be enhanced by using electric fields. This paper provides an overview of current fundamental and applied research as well as potential technical applications of electric fields in energy and process engineering. This includes electrosprays, technical combustors as well as electrochemical reforming and plasma gasification of waste or biomass. Other emerging fields are plasma technologies for treatment of water, surfaces and gases including flue gases. In particle or aerosol-laden flows, plasmas are used to promote particle nucleation and surface growth for controlled nanomaterial synthesis. Furthermore, non-invasive diagnostics based on electromagnetic fields and electric fluid properties are relevant techniques for online control and optimization of technical processes. Finally, an overview of laser-based techniques is provided for studying electro-hydrodynamic effects, temperature, and species concentrations in plasma and electric-field enhanced processes.
Highlights
Electric fields are employed in many engineering fields for improving aerodynamic behavior, heat and mass transfer as well as chemical reactions.In particular, plasmas are promising for material production and applications in environmental cleanup
In the field of metrology, plasmas can especially be used for example for trace element analysis in plasma mass spectrometry (PMS) or laser-induced plasma spectroscopy (LIPS) for analysis of chemical composition of solids, liquids, or even gases
Some examples are given on (a) tomography techniques that are based on electric fluid properties, (b) diagnostics based on ionization, (c) diagnostics for studying electro-hydrodynamic effects and the plasma itself, and (d) plasma spectroscopy
Summary
Electric fields are employed in many engineering fields for improving aerodynamic behavior, heat and mass transfer as well as chemical reactions (e.g., in pyrolysis and gasification processes). Plasmas can be characterized by a high power or energy density and by occurrence of “active species”, which originate from collisions of electrons and neutral molecules and subsequent chemical reactions. Those plasma-generated active species are usually characterized by higher concentrations than those produced in conventional chemical reactors [1]. The active species include photons, neutral species, and charge carriers usually available from glow discharges and arc plasmas They are not necessarily produced in dark discharges or corona). In this case, only “existing” active species are utilized in an Plasmas and plasma sources are described in terms of characteristics that define their regime of electric field (see below). Be sub-divided according to their position on the voltage-current curve (see Figure 1)
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