Catalyst-free production of ammonia by means of interaction between a gliding arc plasma and water surface

Indumathy, B and Ananthanarasimhan, J and Rao, L and Yugeswaran, S and Ananthapadmanabhan, PV (2022) Catalyst-free production of ammonia by means of interaction between a gliding arc plasma and water surface. In: Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 55 (39).

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Abstract

This work reports a study on using a gliding arc plasma reactor to produce ammonia from nitrogen plasma and a water medium without using a catalyst. During the gliding arc plasma discharge, a plasma plume was formed, and vibrational and rotational excitation was observed at the tip of the plasma plume that touched the water below. This arrangement helped the formation of ammonia. The ammonia concentration was 2.12-5.69 ppm, and its production rate varied in the range of 0.63-0.68 mg h-1, having energy efficiency in the range of 0.0249-0.0268 g-NH3 kWh-1, depending on the plasma exposure time. The vibrational temperature increased from 2632 K (near the gas entry zone) to 3778 K (at the tip of the plasma plume interacting with the water), corroborated by the enhanced distribution of electron energy for vibration excitation (≈24%), compared to that for electronic excitation (≈0.03%). The electron temperature dropped from 1.38 eV to 0.76 eV at the plasma zone interacting with the water. This work demonstrates the application of gliding arc plasmas to generate eco-friendly ammonia (green ammonia), and the reactor proves to be promising for further optimization in the future.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics
Publisher:	Institute of Physics
Additional Information:	The copyright for this article belongs to the Institute of Physics.
Keywords:	Catalysts; Electric arcs; Energy efficiency; Nitrogen plasma; Plasma applications; Thermal plumes, Ammonia production; Catalyst-free; Gliding arc; Gliding arc plasmas; Plasma characterization; Plasma reactors; Plasma surfaces; Plasma-activated waters; Plasmas plumes; Water surface, Ammonia
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Centre for Sustainable Technologies (formerly ASTRA)
Date Deposited:	22 Aug 2022 12:00
Last Modified:	22 Aug 2022 12:00
URI:	https://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/76148

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