Plug flow reactor model of the plasma chemical conversion of CO₂

A 1D plug flow model suitable for describing the CO₂ conversion into CO in microwave plasma reactors is proposed. The model is applied together with the Antwerp data set for the CO₂ reaction kinetics to calculate parameter scans for a realistic experimental set up. The energy re-distribution pathways in the model calculations are analyzed. The analysis shows that despite the input power being initially deposited mainly into vibrational states the fast vibrational-translational (VT) transfer leads to dissociation of CO₂ predominantly via the thermal quenching mechanism. Solutions with mitigated VT-losses can be obtained by increasing the specific input power–power per unit volume. In this regime the energy efficiency starts to be constrained by reverse processes. (paper)