Theoretical Study of the Ozone Production and NOx Molecules Processing in N2/O2 Pulsed Discharge

Environmental decontamination is a major challenge due to the rapid growth of industrial and technological development, requiring an important consumption of fossil energies. Nowadays, a new way to treat polluting molecules based on the use of nonequilibrium reactive plasmas, is under development. These plasmas are generated by electrical discharges at atmospheric pressure, for neutralizing or transforming the toxic oxides. In this respect, the goal of the present work is to analyze the possibilities of treatment of NO_x molecules and ozone generation by pulsed discharge. The study was carried out by using a one-dimensional model based on the parallel resistor network concept, consisting in dividing the discharge volume into plasma elements which are connected in no way but through their contribution to the total resistance of the plasma. The model calculations indicate the effect of gas heating and inhomogeneous preionization on the ozone production and NO_x destruction.