Premium
Improving the Conversion and Energy Efficiency of Carbon Dioxide Splitting in a Zirconia‐Packed Dielectric Barrier Discharge Reactor
Author(s) -
Van Laer Koen,
Bogaerts Annemie
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
energy technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.91
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 2194-4296
pISSN - 2194-4288
DOI - 10.1002/ente.201500127
Subject(s) - dielectric barrier discharge , materials science , energy conversion efficiency , plasma , packed bed , energy transformation , cubic zirconia , dielectric , efficient energy use , chemical engineering , analytical chemistry (journal) , nuclear engineering , optoelectronics , chemistry , electrical engineering , composite material , thermodynamics , chromatography , engineering , ceramic , physics , quantum mechanics
The use of plasma technology for CO 2 splitting is gaining increasing interest, but one of the major obstacles to date for industrial implementation is the considerable energy cost. We demonstrate that the introduction of a packing of dielectric zirconia (ZrO 2 ) beads into a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma reactor can enhance the CO 2 conversion and energy efficiency up to a factor 1.9 and 2.2, respectively, compared to that in a normal (unpacked) DBD reactor. We obtained a maximum conversion of 42 % and a maximum energy efficiency of 9.6 %. However, it is the ability of the packing to almost double both the conversion and the energy efficiency simultaneously at certain input parameters that makes it very promising. The improved conversion and energy efficiency can be explained by the higher values of the local electric field and electron energy near the contact points of the beads and the lower breakdown voltage, demonstrated by 2 D fluid modeling.