Göttingen 2025 – scientific programme

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P: Fachverband Plasmaphysik

P 8: Atmospheric Plasmas and their Applications III

P 8.2: Talk

Tuesday, April 1, 2025, 14:15–14:30, ZHG006

High power atmospheric microwave plasma torch for CO₂ conversion — •Marc Bresser, Katharina Wiegers, Stefan Merli, Andreas Schulz, Matthias Walker, and Günter Tovar — IGVP, University of Stuttgart, Germany

Due to global warming and the increase in Earth’s surface temperature the concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere and the CO₂ pollution must be reduced. A renewable alternative to the use of fossil fuels in the chemical industry, as one of the largest producers of CO₂, must be found. An attractive way is to utilize CO₂ as a starting chemical to generate a sustainable alternative and close the carbon cycle. An innovative process is a microwave plasma to activate CO₂. The generated CO can then be used together with hydrogen form renewable resources such as electrolysis to produce synthesis gas. This process has the advantage of on-demand operation with fluctuating and intermitted electric energies. In this work, a 2.45 GHz atmospheric microwave plasma torch is used to convert CO₂ into CO. The torch is operated in a reverse vortex flow configuration. A nozzle behind the torch prevents the back reaction of the product gas. To analyze the cold product gas, the conversion was measured using absorption Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and a X-Stream gas analyzer from Emerson. The influence of microwave power and CO₂ gas flow on the conversion was investigated. Based on the conversion values, the energy efficiency was determined. The plasma process achieved maximum conversions of up to 21 % and an energy efficiency of over 40 %.

Keywords: CO2 conversion; Microwave plasma torch; Carbon monoxide production