Fundamental Physical and Chemical Investigations of Electron-Beam Plasmas

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CTS-0626302 Award AbstractTitle: Fundamental Chemical and Physical Investigations of Electron-Beam PlasmasThe fundamental physics of electron-beam plasmas in humid air will be investigated at the Environmental Science and Forestry campus of SUNY and at Mississippi State University. The principal investigator and co-PI will also investigate the fundamental chemical mechanism of destruction of airborne pollutants in these plasmas. Cavity ringdown spectroscopy in the near infrared will be used to analyze OH radical.This radical is a key species for initiating degradation of pollutants in plasmas and is a powerful tool for plasma diagnostics. In addition to determining three-dimensional OH concentration distributions, lineshapes of OH absorption spectra will be studied to determine gas kinetic temperature and investigate the thermodynamics of the plasma. To obtain insights into factors limiting or enhancing destruction of pollutants, destruction efficiencies of several representative airborne pollutants will be measured, along with the identities and yields of their degradation products. These insights will be quantified with extensive kinetic modeling of the plasma chemistry.The research will produce validated chemical models for chemistry in humid air plasmas, which will be made widely available in a manner that would lend itself to the construction of condensed models. These condensed models could be combined efficiently with computational models of fluid dynamics, which, in turn, would enable integrated treatments of chemistry and transport in these non-thermal plasmas. Broad impacts: Electron-beam plasmas have enormous potential application for removing pollutants and toxins from air streams, and the research will provide a body of fundamental knowledge that will support future efforts to bring electron-beam plasmas into widespread use. In addition, support of graduate student education will provide additional impact.