Gliding Arc Plasma in Cholorinated Methanes

Antonius Indarto†, Jae-Wook Choi, Hwaung Lee and Hyung Keun Song
Korea Institute of Science & Technology, Clean Technology Research Center,
P.O. Box 131, Cheongryang, Seoul 130-650, Korea

(Received 17 October 2004)

Abstract

Plasma processing of the chloromethane compounds (methylene chloride (CH2Cl2), chloroform

(CHCl3), and carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)) diluted in the atmospheric air using gliding arc has been

studied. Various values of injected initial chloromethane concentrations, total gas flow rates, and

power frequency were used as the variables to investigate their discharge characteristic. This paper

evaluates the phenomena of chloromethane processing by gliding arc plasma

Key words: Plasma, Gliding Arc, chloromethane, AC wave form, equilibrium voltage, voltage

breakdown

1. Introduction

The plasma of gliding arc is widely used now to destruct toxic materials. Many dangerous

emissions, such as H2S [1], N2O[2], CHCl3 and CCl4 [3-4] have been investigated and studied.

Usually, high destruction efficiency can be achieved by using this method.

The gliding arc consists of a pair of flat electrodes which are connected to the power supply.

In operation, the arc starts at the narrowest part of electrodes gap. It starts immediately after

breakdown, a process that takes place when the electric field in the gap is high enough to ignite the

arc. The current of the arc increases very fast at moderate voltage, sufficient to create a powerful arc

which expands upward on the surface of electrodes and elongate until it can no longer be

†
Corresponding author: E-mail:indarto_antonius@yahoo.com, Tel:+82-19-352-1981
maintained. At this point, the arc goes out, and the process is repeated.

The number of arcs that will be produced depends on many factors, such as the frequency of

the power supply applied, flowing gas species, and the total gas flow rate. During this movement,

molecule reaction simultaneously occurs. Plasma arcs usually have energy high enough to destruct

strong molecule bond or initiate a reaction of stable gas material due to high temperature of flame,

higher electron density, etc.

However, the papers that discuss the the behaviour of gliding arc are few in number. The

results of the theoretical and numerical studies performed with the use of many mathematical

equations describing gliding arc have been published in literature [5-9].)

In this paper, we tried to explain physical characteristics of the plasma of compressed air

with the chloromethane compounds diluted in it. The experiment was carried out with two

triangular stainless steel electrodes, which were electrically charged from an AC power supply.

According to an US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report, the chloromethane to be

destructed was categorized as a compound of high thermal stability [10]. An analysis was carried

out, which was focused on discharge parameters, such as the equilibrium voltage, breakdown

voltage, and voltage-current-power (V-I-W) profile as functions of different concentrations of

chloromethane, total gas flow rate, and power frequency.

2. Experimental setup

The schematic diagram of the experimental setup is shown in Fig.1. Chloromethane

compounds and atmospheric air were used as an input gas. Each system and component of the setup

are described in detail in the following section.

2.1. Plasma reactor and power supply

Figure 1

The reactor was made from a quartz-glass tube of inner diameter 45 mm and length 300

mm. The upper part and the bottom of the reactor equipped with a teflon seal comprised two
electrodes made of stainless steel. The length of the electrodes was 150 mm. The separation of the

electrodes in the narrowest section was 1.5 mm. The gas mixture was fed between the electrodes

through a capillary (nozzle tube) of 0.8 mm inner diameter. A thermocouple, located 10 cm above

the electrode, was provided to measure the temperature of outlet gas. A high-frequency AC power

supply (the Auto electric, A1831) with a maximum voltage of 10 kV and a maximum current of 100

mA was connected to the gliding arc electrode to generate plasma. The frequency could be adjusted

from 10 to 20 kHz.

2.2. Input gas

Chlorinated methanes, used as the initial material, are:

a. Methylene chloride: CH2Cl2, molecular weight 84.93, purity 99.0%, purchased from the Junsei

Chemical Co., Ltd., concentration 1, 2, 3, 4 % (volume percent).

b. Chloroform: CHCl3, molecular weight 119.38, purity 99.0%, purchased from the Junsei

Chemical Co., Ltd., concentration 1, 3, 5, 8 % (volume percent).

c. Carbon tetrachloride: CCl4, molecular weight 153.82, purity 99.5%, purchased from the Kanto

Chemical Co., Inc., concentration 1, 3, 5, 8 % (volume percent).

Atmospheric air was used as a carrier gas and was controlled by a calibrated mass flow
controller (the Tylan, FC-280S). The flow rates were 3, 4, and 5 L/min. Before entering the reactor,
atmospheric air first passed through a scrubber and then was mixed with chloromethane compound.
The chloromethane compounds were injected by a syringe pump (the KD Scientific, Model 100).
The temperature of input stream was maintained higher than the temperature of compounds
vaporization by means of heating tape surrounding the stream line.

2.3. System of Measurements

The power supplied and AC voltage-current (V-I) waveform were registered by a digital
oscilloscope (the Agilent 54641A) with a high-voltage probe (the Tektronix P6015A) having
analogue bandwidth of 350 MHz and a current monitor (the Pearson 4997). The power consumed
was also calculated by a wattmeter (the Metex M-3860M). The power measured with the
oscilloscope was the real value absorbed in the reactor only and was defined as:
 Discharge power = ∫ (V (t ) × I (t ) ) dt × frequency Watt (1)

In this study the experimental data were taken 30 minutes after the initiation of the plasma

of gliding arc referred to the onset outlet temperature of the bulk gas measured by thermocouple.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Characteristics of Power Supplies

Figure 2

Figure 3

The specific characteristic of the gliding arc is the initial breakdown of the moving gas,

which initiates this arc. Initial breakdown voltage was higher than equilibrium voltage. Figure 2

shows the arc movement along the electrode plates. The number of arcs produced could be easily

found from the waveform of voltage and current (Figure 3). Following Chiranjeeve et al work,

over-current should be obtained at the shortest distance between a pair of electrodes which

represents of breakdown state of arc production. In this study, the AC supply voltage applied and

current of breakdown and equilibrium state were not manually adjustable. Required voltage and

current value to achieve the initial arc production was fixed at the specific value which is

determined by configuration of system, such as: gap distance of electrode, gas flow rate, etc. After

achieving initial breakdown, supply voltage and current decreased in the equilibrium state to a

stationary value which could not be adjusted or changed by varying the parameter of the power

supply. The frequency of the power supply was the only adjustable independent parameter.

However, the frequency played an important role in the amount of arcs produced.

3.1. Influence of chloromethane compounds

Figure 4

Figure 5

The power consumed or applied plays the main role in holding the stability or instability of

gliding plasma. Although the concentration and flow rate were kept the same, different compounds
of injected material gives gave different power consumption. Figure 4 shows the result of the

measurements of voltage carried out by oscilloscope for different gases. Slight differences in

voltage and positions of maxima occurred. With rising concentration of chloromethane in the inlet

stream, the difference was getting more and more, which is clearly shown in Fig. 5. From Fig. 5, it

can be concluded that the compound containing CCl4 consumed the highest discharge power. The

power consumed by different compounds was as follows (in descending order):

CCl4 > CH2Cl2 > CHCl3

A good analytical explanation can be given on the base of the Paschen’s Law, according to

which the potential is a function of the product of pressure and gap length [11].

V = f ( p, d ) (2)

In this experiment the the interelectrode gap was kept constant, and the pressure could also

be assumed constant. Although the potential was the function of p and d, in the real experiment,

some coefficient must be introduced to match the results of the experiment and mathematical

calculations [12]. Rearrangement of Eq. 2 which inserts some coefficient will give:

B pd
V=
 A pd  (3)
ln  
 ln(1 / γ ) 

where γ is the Townsend secondary emission coefficient of electrons of Townsend and

followed, which is written as follows :

1
=∈αd (4)
γ

The differentiation of Eq. 2 and setting the derivation equal to zero will give:

e 1 2.718 1
( pd ) m = ln = ln (5)
A γ A γ

The minimum/ maximum voltage was obtained by substituting Eq. 5 into Eq. 3:

B 1
Vm = 2.718 ln (6)
A γ
 The voltage given in Eq. 6 is usually called as a voltage of breakdown (Vbd). In case of

gliding arc, Vm > V. Less information about of A and B constants is available under?? in the case of

gliding arc plasma. The parameters A and B must be determined experimentally [13].

From Eqs. 3 and 6, it can be seen that there is a relation between V and Vbd. When

chloromethane compounds were injected with different concentrations, the values of Vbd obtained

from the experiment were different. In this study, to check the relationship between V and Vbd, we

used the following algorithm:

By rearranging Eq. (6) in the form:

2.718 1
A= B ln (7)
Vm γ

and substituting it into Eq. (3) we will have:

B pd
V=
 2.718 B  (8)
ln  
 Vm 

For two different concentrations of chloromethane compounds, we have:

B1 p1 d 1
 2.718 B1 
ln  
V1  V m1 
= (9)
V2 B2 p 2 d 2
 2.718 B 2 
ln  
 Vm 2 

The experiment was carried out under the same pressure and gap distance: p1 = p2 and d1 =

d2. Parameter B is the function of effective ionization potential (V*) and pressure. This potential

ensures the transport electrons through the gap and thus ionization is produced. As we used the

same gap distance, pressure, and concentrations of chloromethane compounds differ only slightly, it

could be assumed that B1 ≈ B2.

1
ln 
 V1  = Vm 2
In this case Eq. (9) can be written in the form:
 1  Vm1
ln 
 V2 
 (10)

Figure 6

The comparison between the calculation and experimental results is shown in Fig. 6. When

the experiment was carried out with varying concentrations but with the same chloromethane

compounds, the results were close. The satisfactory result was also achieved when the experiment

was carried out with different total gas flow rates and fixed concentration and chloromethane

species. However, this result could not be obtained when we applied the same rates with different

chloromethane compounds. This means that parameters A and C have specific values for each

chloromethane gas and play an important role in the initiation of arcs cycle production.

Molecule chemical stability has important role on the breakdown process into plasma by

releasing energetic species, such as electron and ion. Radu, et.al. have studied and mentioned in

their work the effect of electron on the initiation of breakdown. Lack of free electrons that are

necessary to initiate the breakdown will lead to the over-voltage across the electrodes gap, which

will result in larger magnitude of voltage and current amplitude and more rapid rising times [14-17].

Taylor et al. have made a comparison between these compounds and graded these compounds in

stability under the conditions of oxidation [18]:

CCl4 = CH2Cl2 > CHCl3

and in the absence of oxygen:

CCl4 > CH2Cl2 > CHCl3

Stability depends on the structure and chemical bonds of compounds. High chemical bond

stability compared to other chlorinated methanes could explain why CCl4 gave the highest value of
V and Vbd. This result also matched with other experimental results testifying that CCl4 has higher

energy consumption than CHCl3 [4].

3.2. Influence of total gas flow rate

Figure 7

After the initial breakdown of the discharge gap,we failed to control equilibrium voltage and

current by varying the parameters of the power supply, and setting of specified voltage and current

was difficult. In this case, the total gas flow rate also was aa factor to be counted as a variable.

Figure 7 shows the effect of the total gas flow rate on power profile. It can be easily seen that at 3

L/min, the total discharge power that was supplied to the system was higher compared to its value at

4 and 5 L/min.

Figure 8

To study thoroughly this effect, we have tried to capture- the real voltage-current profile at

under the conditions of equilibrium. Figure 8 shows the behavior of voltage-current wave obtained

by experiment. The calculations of both real and average values of voltage wave gave that the total

voltage supplied would be lower at lower total gas flow rate. But this difference was not noticeable.

This phenomenon can be also explained by the Paschen’s law [12]. Usually, rising flow rate

increases the pressure in the system. Increasing pressure can increase the breakdown-voltage (Vb) to

initiate the arc creation which is higher compared at the lower pressure system. Moreover, the

voltage at the equilibrium condition will be higher also compared at the lower pressure. The effect

of current waveform can be supposed to be the main reason for rising or reducing the value of total

discharge power. The comparison between Fig.s 8 (b), (d), and (e), it shows that at 3 L/min the

number of sudden-fluctuated pulses was higher that in the two others cases. This means that at 3

L/min the system produced more arcs compared to 4 and 5 L/min. As mentioned above, as the

effect of rising flow rate results in higher pressure, therefore, the possibility to produce arcs was

getting weaker . That is why the number of sudden-fluctuated pulses was smaller and smaller with
rising of the total gas flow rate. However, sudden-fluctuated pulses also gave significant

contribution to the calculated average total current fed to the system. Compared to the average

current when arc was not occurred, the value of the total average current was 5 ~ 10 times higher in

case with plasma.

3.3. Effect of frequency

Figure 9

Figure 10

The frequency of the power supply was an adjustable factor in this experiment. Figure 9

shows the effect of frequency on power profile. The integration of Eq. 1 showed that the total

discharge power increased linearly with rising frequency. When the conditions were kept constant,

the number of arcs also increased. Radu et. al. mentioned that a change in the frequency will change

the basic mechanism of the Townsend breakdown [14]. Rising frequency will increase sudden

fluctuations of current and voltage peak per cycle. Integration calculation of power waveform using

Eq.1 shows that higher number of peaks per cycle will give higher energy supplied, Fig. 10.. The

measurements carried out with a wattmeter showed the same tendency as the oscilloscope

measurements but power value was a little bit higher. Oscilloscope was used to measure only the

energy that was supplied to the plasma. On the other hand, wattmeter measured the total power

needed for all instruments, including the total power to operate the power supply.

4. Conclusion

. The power discharge characteristics of gliding arc plasma have been studied using

chloromethane compounds. Different concentrations, total gas flow rate and frequency have been

used to investigate the behaviour of voltage-current-power (V-I-W) characteristic. Different kinds of

chloromethane compounds gave significantly different values of discharge power, equilibrium

voltage, and breakdown voltage; CCl4 gave their highest values. In case of different concentrations

and total gas flow rate, the the behavior of chloromethane compounds followed the Paschen’s law,

which gave the relation between equilibrium voltage and breakdown voltage. Higher total gas flow

rate decreased the discharge power. It reduced the number of of arcs produced that, which would

reduced the sudden fluctuations in the current wave. Discharge power also increased with higher

frequency.

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the National Research Laboratory of the Ministry of Science

and Technology of Korea.

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 Figure Captions

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the experimental setup

Figure 2. Movement of the gliding arc along the electrode plate recorded by a high-speed
camera.

Figure 3. Typical waveform of the AC power supply. The phenomena of arc production
could be clearly seen from the fluctuations of current waveform.
Fig 4. Voltage profile.
Figure 5. Effect of injected chloromethane compounds (species, concentration, and total gas
flow rate) on discharge power.
Figure 6. Comparison between the calculation and experimental value of Vbd.
Figure 7. Power profile as a function of the total gas flow rate. The data were obtained
using 1% of CCl4 as an injected compound at a power frequency of 20 kHz.
Figure 8. Voltage-current behaviour at 1% of injected CCl4 and a power frequency of 20
kHz. (a) V-3 L/min (b) I-3 L/min (c) V-4 L/min (d) I-4 L/min (e) V-5 L/min (f) I-5 L/min
Fig 9. Effect of the frequency of the power supply applied on the power profile. The data
were obtained using 10% of CHCl3 at a total gas flow rate of 2.5 L/min
Fig 10. Effect of the frequency of the power supply applied on the total discharge power.
The data were obtained using 8% of CHCl3 at a total gas flow rate of 2.5 L/min