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Hydroxyl (OH) radicals generated in wire–plate pulsed corona discharge (PCD) were detected by laser-induced fluorescence (LIF). In this paper, the 2-D distribution of OH radicals and the time-resolved development of the streamers in humidified nitrogen were recorded by an intensified charge-coupled device camera. The results indicate that the OH-LIF signals could not be detected when secondary streamer was absent in PCD with low input energy. Input energy, which varies with the configuration of wire–plate reactor and applied voltage, significantly affected the spatial distribution of OH radicals.

Pulsed corona discharge in atmosphere has been widely regarded as an efficient flue gas treatment technology for the generation of active radical species, such as the OH radicals. The spatial distribution of OH radicals generated by pulsed corona discharge plays an important role in decomposing pollutants. The two-dimensional (2-D) distribution of OH radicals of positive wire--plate pulsed corona discharge was detected using laser-induced fluorescence (LIF). The influence of relative humidity (RH) and oxygen concentration on the 2-D distribution of OH radicals were investigated. The results indicated that the 2-D distribution of OH radicals was characterized by a fan-shaped distribution from the wire electrode to plate electrode, and both the maximum values of vertical length and horizontal width of the fan area was less than 1 cm. The 2-D distribution area of OH radicals increased significantly with increasing the RH and the optimum condition was 65% RH. The optimal level of the oxygen concentration for the 2-D distribution area of OH radicals was 2%. The process of OH radical generation and 2-D distribution area of OH radicals were significantly interfered when the oxygen concentration was larger than 15%. The total quenching rate coefficients for different RH values and oxygen concentration in this study were used to calculate the fluorescence yield of OH radical. The fluorescence yield, which is the ratio between the emission rate (Einstein coefficient) and the sum of the emission rate and quenching rate, was used to normalize the 2-D distribution area of OH radicals. The fluorescence yield of OH radical decreased with increasing the RH and oxygen concentration linearly and rapidly. It was also found that compared with the RH, the influence of the oxygen concentration had more notable effect on the fluorescence yield of OH radical and 2-D distribution area of OH radicals.

The wire-plate pulsed corona discharge reactor has been regarded as the plasma reactor with highest efficiency for controlling pollutants such as NO and SO2 in flue gas with high-voltage and short-duration positive pulsed corona discharge. A laboratory-scale pulsed corona discharge reactor with wire-plate electrode configuration is established for optimizing the geometry structure of the wire-plate plasma reactor. In this paper, three different methods are used to optimize the wire-to-wire distance and wire-to-plate distance of the plasma reactor. There are experiments with different conditions including various electrical parameters, streamer parameters, and NO oxidation efficiency. The same results are obtained from all the three experiments. The results indicate that short wire-to-plate distance should be adopted to increase the input energy of the plasma reactor but not too short to cause spark discharge in the reactor. Moreover, the wire-to-wire distance should be at least twice as large as wire-to-plate distance, to reduce the interferences between adjacent wire electrodes.

The spectrum of excited N2 molecules and ions was measured by optical emission spectroscopy in pulsed corona discharge with a wire-to-plate reactor. The ratio of emission intensities emitted by the excited molecules and ions of N2 was compared with numerical simulation to determine average electron energies and electric field distributions. Within 2 cm distance from wire electrode in horizontal and vertical directions, electric field and average electron energies appear to be in the ranges of 11.05 19.6 MV x m(-1) and 10.10-13.92 eV respectively; as the distance increases, average electron energies and electric field show a similar trend: first decrease and then increase. Chemically active species, such as OH, O and O3, can be generated through the energetic electron collisions with H2O and O2 directly or indirectly. For the NO oxidation, there is no coexistence of NO and O3, whereas there is a coexistence of NO and OH. NO is oxidized by O3 or O more efficiently than by OH radical.

Streamer plays a key role in the process of OH radical generation. The propagation of primary and secondary streamers of positive wire-plate pulsed corona discharge was observed using a short gate ICCD in air environment. The influence of the applied voltage on the properties was investigated. It was shown that the primary streamer propagation velocity, electric coverage and length of secondary streamer increased significantly with increasing the applied voltage. Then 2-D OH distribution was investigated by the emission spectrum. With the analysis of the OH emission spectra, the distribution of OH radicals showed a trend of decreasing from the wire electrode to its circumambience. Compared with the streamer propagation trace, the authors found that OH radical distribution and streamer are in the same area. Both OH radical concentration and the intensity of streamer decreased when far away from the wire electrode.

In order to get extensive knowledge of wire-to-plate pulsed corona discharge reactor, the influences of different diameters of wire electrode, different wire-to-plate and wire-to-wire spacing on OH radical generation were experimentally investigated under atmospheric pressure based on emission spectrum, and the spatial distribution of OH radicals in the electric field was also discussed in detail The results showed that OH radicals decrease along the X-axis, and the activation radius is approximately 20 mm; showing a trend of first increase and then decrease along the Y-axis, with the activation radius being more than 30 mm. OH radical has small change as the diameter of wire electrode changes below 2 mm, with a sharp decline as the diameter continues to increase. OH radical emission intensity increases as wire-to-wire spacing increases and decrease as wire-to-plate spacing increases.