TTW 16480 - Making plasma-assisted combustion efficient

Novel combustion concepts are being developed to convert fuels in energy with reduced pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions. One of these concepts is plasma-assisted combustion. Plasma-assisted combustion is a promising method to enhance flame-stability in low-temperature flames. The reduction of flame temperature is important for reducing NOx emissions. However, control over the combustion process via the creation of radicals using plasma is not well understood. Importantly, it is unknown if this process can be made efficient, while plasma NOx emissions are prevented.This research project aims at the development of efficient burners for plasma-assisted combustion. Plasma chemical activation via nanosecond dielectric barrier discharges is a promising method to achieve this. Both numerical and experimental work will be done in this project. Using numerical tools, the activation of plasma chemistry due to electric discharge will be investigated. Combustion chemistry is activated by the accumulated plasma chemistry of several electric discharges. However, the timescale separation between plasma and combustion processes is large. To coupe with the large time separation, advanced chemical reduction techniques will be developed.Verification of numerical findings is done using laser diagnostics, e.g. Raman spectroscopy. It will be applied to characterise the activation of chemical pathways. A fundamental reactor is being developed to investigate the combustion-plasma interaction. This fundamental reactor is not only used for numerical validation, but it is also a tool to find optimal plasma parameters. Using the experimental and numerical finding novel burner geometries for optimal combustion activation via plasma will be developed.
People involved in this project: Jeroen van Oijen, Thijs Hazenberg & Lyon Hegh