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Reduction of Chemical Reactions in Nitrogen and Nitrogen–Hydrogen Plasma Jets Flowing into Atmospheric Air

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Abstract

The large number of possible chemical reactions represents a severe burdenfor modeling of even relatively simple plasma systems. Reduced sets ofchemical reactions have been obtained for numerical simulations of nitrogenand nitrogen-hydrogen plasma jets flowing into an atmospheric airenvironment. The important or active reactions are determined based on asimplified reduction method. A reaction is considered active if it leadsto higher sensitivities than a specified cutoff sensitivity of 1%. Theactive reactions exert a significant influence on main plasma parameters,such as velocity, temperature, and species concentrations. The sensitivityanalysis for the specified systems shows that two NO reactions, known asZel'dovich reactions (N2+O⇌NO+N andNO+O⇌O2+N),(1) are both active in a nitrogenplasma jet. On the other hand, the latter is not active and may be omittedin a nitrogen–hydrogen plasma jet. A nitrogen–hydrogen plasmajet requires contribution of two active charge exchange reactions:N2+N+⇌N+ 2+N andN+H+⇌N+ +H, while only the former is needed in a nitrogen plasmajet. The dissociation reactions are all active in both plasma jets, exceptthe dissociation of OH.

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Park, J.H., Pfender, E. & Chang, C.H. Reduction of Chemical Reactions in Nitrogen and Nitrogen–Hydrogen Plasma Jets Flowing into Atmospheric Air. Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing 20, 165–181 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007087105887

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007087105887

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