CO2 conversion in a microwave plasma torch: 2D vs 1D approaches

In the present study, we computationally investigate the splitting of CO2 to carbon monoxide and oxygen in an atmospheric pressure microwave (MW) plasma torch. We demonstrate different stages of CO2 conversion while using 2D and 1D models. For both models, we use identical sets of chemical reactions, cross sections, power profiles and dimensions of the plasma region. Based on the real MW plasma torch device, we first constructed two-dimensional geometry and obtained results using the 2D model. Then, the 1D plug-flow model was employed. With 1D model we expected to obtain the results close to those we already had from the 2D approach. However, we revealed that the gas temperature and plasma species behaviour in 1D model was quite different from those obtained with the 2D code. We revisited the 2D results and found that the reverse (upstream) gas flow near the central electrode was responsible for the observed discrepancies. In 2D model, the residence time of a certain portion of gas was much longer. When the flow rate in 1D model was adjusted, the reasonable agreement between both models was achieved.

Automated summary

In this study, we computationally investigated the process of CO2 splitting to carbon monoxide and oxygen in an atmospheric pressure microwave plasma torch. We used 2D and 1D models to demonstrate different stages of CO2 conversion. Contrary to our expectation, the gas temperature and plasma species behavior in the 1D model were found to be quite different from those obtained with the 2D code. We identified that the reverse gas flow near the central electrode was responsible for the observed discrepancies and achieved reasonable agreement between the two models by adjusting the flow rate in the 1D model.