Progress Of Plasma Oxidation Of Pm From A Diesel Engine

Plasma oxidation of particulate matter (PM) from a diesel engine has been obtained much attention as it can solve some problems which current PM removal technologies cannot overcome. This report summaries plasma oxidation of PM from basic study to practical application. Firstly, PM oxidation was confirmed with a single pulse discharge technology using a streak camera equipped with a monochromator. The thermal combustion of some carbon materials (main component of PM) was characterized using a thermal gravity with a mass spectrometer, the results show that PM with oxygen/hydrogen bonds has a lower combustion temperature. The mechanism of PM plasma oxidation is that PM is first oxidized and then burn off by analyzing PM distributions with and without plasmas. For a practical use of plasma PM oxidation, the waveform types of pulse power supplies and dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactors were developed and evaluated, on which a pulse power supply and DBD reactor can be designed. Recently, special plasma-catalytic reactor for PM oxidation was developed, it was found that PM, hydrocarbon, and NOx can be simultaneously removed. The future development of plasma-catalytic PM oxidation is given.