Multi-step modeling of rotating gliding-arc plasma reactor applied for carbon black synthesis

Felipe Antonio Cassini¹, Deisei Rebelo Consoni², Leonardo Paes Rangel³, Natan Padoin³, Cintia Soares³, Nito Angelo Debacher^{1, *}

^* The author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

¹ Department of Chemistry, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil
³ Department of Chemical and Food Engineering, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil

Abstract

Plasma is ionized gas produced by electric discharges and can be obtained in several different ways from different devices and can be generally separated into two main categories, namely, thermal and non-thermal plasma. At times, a combination of thermal and non-thermal plasma is desired for industrial applications such as carbon black (CB) production via propane pyrolysis, for example, and it can be achieved through a transient gliding arc discharge device. The plasma pyrolysis process is environmentally clean, as the only byproducts are H₂ gas and solid CB; however, the physical and chemical processes involved are very complex, and a computational modeling tool is essential for its optimization. This work mainly focused on developing a rotating gliding arc (RGA) plasma discharge reactor operating with alternating current high-voltage and a low current regime at atmospheric pressure for continuous CB synthesis by propane pyrolysis. The CB particle structure identified was a turbostratic type with small particles fused and graphitic layers randomly formed. The pressure and velocity profiles as well as electric field strength at the electrode area of the RGA reactor were optimized via COMSOL^® Multiphysics software. The chemical composition profile of the RGA reactor in ideal working conditions was estimated via T&TWinner software based on the Gibbs free energy minimization method. The multi-step modeling calculation and the experimental results show that the rate of degradation of propane is high at the electrode tip, which shows a direct relationship with the intensity of the electric field. The multi-step modeling calculation showed to be a strong tool for an RGA reactor design for efficiency achievement.

Keywords - Rotating gliding-arc, plasma reactor, carbon black synthesis, multi-step modeling.

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