Effect of mixing characteristics on efficiency of pulse plasma-assisted fuel reforming

To examine the influence of mixing and turbulence on existing concentric cylindrical corona plasma reactor (PR) with repetitively nanosecond discharges, three geometries, namely conventional plug flow (PF), side inlet and outlet (SIAO) and Concentric inlet and outlet (CIAO) are constructed for comparison reasons. Both simulations and experiments are carefully conducted. Simulations show that the level of turbulence intensity and mixing are greatly increased using the CIAO geometry while the product spice mass flux for both CIAO and SIAO are significantly higher than conventional PF. Images taken from high-speed camera show an overlap between high-speed flow region and discharge region leading to the significant enhance on product spice mass flux. The conversion rate as well as the conversion energy efficiency of dry methane reforming are experimentally measured for all three designs. Both Simulations and experiments indicate that mixing plays an important role in plasma related reaction and the reasons are carefully examined. This not only demonstrates the effectiveness of CIAO geometry but also suggests flow is another important part of constructing new plasma reactors.