volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to experimentally investigate the applicability of a rod-electrode-type microwave plasma source (MPS) for pure carbon dioxide (CO₂) splitting at atmospheric pressure. This paper demonstrates that the rod-electrode-type MPS can convert pure CO₂ gas into plasma. The CO₂ splitting by the CO₂ plasma is investigated in terms of the pure CO₂ flow rate into the rod-electrode-type MPS and the average transmission power to the rod-electrode-type MPS. In the investigations, the emission spectrum of the CO₂ plasma is measured using a spectrometer to observe the dissociation reaction of the CO₂ gas, and the exhaust gas after the CO₂ plasma generation is analyzed using a mass spectrometer to evaluate the CO₂ conversion. As a result, the CO₂ conversion decreases with an increase in either the average transmission power to the rod-electrode-type MPS or the CO2 flow rate into the rod-electrode-type MPS. Under the experimental conditions, the highest CO₂ conversion and energy efficiency are 6.3% and 3.7% at a specific energy input of 4.9 eV/molecule (equivalent to approximately 19.6 kJ/L), respectively.

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Dr. Hidenori Sekiguchi