Low-temperature chemistry in plasma-driven ammonia oxidative pyrolysis

Ammonia is gaining increasing attention as a green alternative fuel for achieving large-scale carbon emission reduction. Despite its potential technical prospects, the harsh ignition conditions and slow flame propagation speed of ammonia pose significant challenges to its application in engines. Non-equilibrium plasma has been identified as a promising method, but current research on plasma-enhanced ammonia combustion is limited and primarily focuses on ignition characteristics revealed by kinetic models. In this study, low-temperature and low-pressure chemistry in plasma-assisted ammonia oxidative pyrolysis is investigated by integrated studies of steady-state GC measurements and mathematical simulation. The detailed kinetic mechanism of NH3 decomposition in plasma-driven Ar/NH3 and Ar/NH3/O2 mixtures has been developed. The numerical model has good agreements with the experimental measurements in NH3/O2 consumption and N2/H2 generation, which demonstrates the rationality of modelling. Based on the modelling results, species density profiles, path flux and sensitivity analysis for the key plasma-produced species such as NH2, NH, H2, OH, H, O, O(1D), O2(a1Δg), O2(b1Σg+), Ar∗, H−, Ar+, NH3+, O2− in the discharge and afterglow are analyzed in detail to illustrate the effectiveness of the active species on NH3 excitation and decomposition at low temperature and relatively higher E/N values. The results revealed that NH2, NH, H as well as H2 are primarily generated through the electron collision reactions e + NH3 → e + NH2 + H, e + NH3 → e + NH + H2 and the excited-argon collision reaction Ar∗ + NH3 + H → Ar + NH2 + 2H, which will then react with highly reactive oxidative species such as O2∗, O∗, O, OH, and O2 to produce stable products of NOx and H2O. NH3 → NH is found a specific pathway for NH3 consumption with plasma assistance, which further highlights the enhanced kinetic effects.