Arc plasma technology is gaining increasing interest for a variety of chemical reaction applications. In this study, we demonstrate how modifying the reactor geometry can significantly enhance the chemical reaction performance. Using dry reforming of methane as a model reaction, we studied different rotating arc reactors (conventional rotating arc reactor and nozzle-type rotating arc reactor) to evaluate the effect of attaching a downstream nozzle. The nozzle structure focuses the heat to a confined reaction volume, resulting in enhanced heat transfer from the arc into gas activation and reduced heat losses to the reactor walls. Compared to the conventional rotating arc reactor, this yields much higher CH₄ and CO₂ conversion (i.e., 74% and 49%, respectively, versus 40% and 28% in the conventional reactor, at 5 kJ/L) as well as energy efficiency (i.e., 53% versus 36%). The different performance in both reactors was explained by both experiments (measurements of temperature and oscillogram of current and voltage) and numerical modelling of the gas flow dynamics, heat transfer and fluid plasma of the reactor chambers. The results provide important insights for design optimization of arc plasma reactors for various chemical reactions.

电弧等离子体技术对各种化学反应应用越来越感兴趣。在这项研究中，我们演示了如何修改反应器的几何形状可以显着提高化学反应性能。使用甲烷的干重整作为模型反应，我们研究了不同的旋转电弧反应器（常规旋转电弧反应器和喷嘴式旋转电弧反应器），以评估安装下游喷嘴的效果。喷嘴结构将热量集中到有限的反应空间中，从而增强了从电弧到气体活化的传热，并减少了向反应器壁的热损失。与传统的旋转电弧反应器相比，它产生更高的CH ₄和CO ₂转化率（即分别为74％和49％，而传统反应器在5 kJ / L时分别为40％和28％）以及能效（即53％对36％）。通过两个实验（电流和电压的温度和示波图的测量）以及反应器腔室的气流动力学，传热和流体等离子体的数值模型，来解释两个反应器中的不同性能。结果为各种化学反应的电弧等离子体反应器的设计优化提供了重要的见识。