An Investigation on the Application of Plasma-Activated Gas to Laminar Lifted Nonpremixed Jet Flames

Abstract

This paper is to experimentally investigate the effect of plasma-activated gas on the characteristics of a laminar lifted nonpremixed jet flame in a coflow stream. A coaxial dielectric-barrier discharge is employed to activate fuel (C3H8) and oxidizer, respectively. It is shown that an enhancement of 12% and 50% in the liftoff velocity is observed for oxidizer and fuel activation, respectively. With the addition of O3 (1650 ppm) by oxidizer activation, the flame liftoff height is continuously decreased and the blowout velocity is extended. In contrast, a larger liftoff height, accompanied with a smaller blowout velocity, exhibits for flames with fuel activation. The inconsistent effect of fuel activation on the flame liftoff is presumably a contribution of the gas expansion, the conversion rate, and the corresponding product selectivity. The gas expansion is due to the fuel activation that produces lighter hydrocarbons than propane. The conversion rate and the H2 and CH4 selectivities are found to be associated with the plasma energy density. The flame propagation can be greatly enhanced to produce a nozzle-attached flame when the plasma energy density is high enough to effectively decompose C3H8 into H2. Nevertheless, a decrease in plasma energy is more sufficient for the cleavage of C–C bonds, resulting in a significant decrease in H2 selectivity, but a nearly unaltered CH4 selectivity. The reduced conversion due to the lower plasma energy, along with the gas expansion, produces a lifted flame with a larger liftoff height than the nonactivated flame.