Exhausted gasses do not have to be heated as a whole the applied electrical energy will selectively heat the electrons due to their small mass. Subsequently, these energetic electrons will collide with the gas molecules (e.g., CO2 or N2), causing excitation, ionization, and dissociation.
Plasma can be used in different set-ups:
✓ Dielectric BarrierDischarge (DBD)
✓ Microwave Discharge (MW)
✓ Gliding arc (GA) Discharge
✓ Atmospheric Pressure Glow Discharges (APGD)
✓ Radical Corona Shower (RCS)
In the radical shower approach, the plasma treats directly only a portion of the total flow or even separate gas and produces active species such as radicals, which then treat the total gas flow as a ̈shower ̈. Corona discharges are generated by high voltage on sharp electrodes, or thin wires and are an atmospheric pressure NTP source. Corona discharge from 100 000 to 1 000 000 times faster than in nature and it is effective in the case of plasma treatment of large volume exhausts.
Video: Early testing of Plasma chamber in 2016