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<\/p>\nRecent research by our group at the Technion \u2013 Israel Institute of Technology investigates the underlying chemistry behind plasma – assisted ammonia decomposition and oxidation. This parametric study explores the effects of varying the plasma and mixture conditions of ammonia fuels. A non-equilibrium nanosecond-pulsed high-frequency dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma was employed in this work to crack ammonia, generating hydrogen and nitrogen.<\/p>\n
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Ammonias high volumetric hydrogen density and combustible potential position it as a promising zero-carbon fuel source. However, drawbacks exist attributed to its poor combustion qualities relating to ignition resistance, narrow flammability range, and high NOx<\/sub> emissions. This study seeks to assess the feasibility of ammonia as a fuel source blended with hydrogen via partial dissociation and ammonia as a hydrogen vector via complete dissociation.<\/p>\n Species and Temperature Measurements<\/strong><\/p>\n The rotational and vibrational temperatures of nitrogen species within the plasma were measured via OES, targeting the N2<\/sub> second positive system. Since the N2<\/sub>(X) + e\u2212<\/sup> \u2192 N2<\/sub>(C) + e\u2212<\/sup> is fast and the dominating populating mechanism; the assumptions can be made that the \ud835\udc412<\/sub>(C) state follows the distribution of the \ud835\udc412<\/sub>(X) ground state, that rotational-translational equilibrium is fast, and thus the gas temperature is approximately the rotational temperature of the nitrogen species in the plasma. An in-house fitting software was used for quantification. This study examines the effects of varying the discharge parameters on the plasma temperature, which is a key contributor to the process of ammonia decomposition and oxidation, which is favored by high gas temperatures.<\/p>\n FTIR spectroscopy and GC-TCD measurements were performed on the exhaust gas to quantify ammonia conversion and hydrogen production.\u00a0The specific energy input (SEI) is the main driver of the NH3<\/sub> conversion and H2<\/sub> yield, which is favored by achieving elevated gas temperatures. with a maximum H2<\/sub> yield of 4.38%.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Recent research by our group at the Technion \u2013 Israel Institute of Technology investigates the underlying chemistry behind plasma – assisted ammonia decomposition and oxidation. This parametric study explores the effects of varying the plasma and mixture conditions of ammonia fuels. A non-equilibrium nanosecond-pulsed high-frequency dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma was employed in this work […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-flex.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-967","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/aerospace.technion.ac.il\/lab\/cdl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/AmmoniaConversionvsT-300x225.png\")
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Numerical Study<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/aerospace.technion.ac.il\/lab\/cdl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/03\/IgnitionDelay-300x267.png\")
Alongside the experimental analysis of the ammonia plasma system, a numerical study investigates the plasma’s effects on ignition delay time (IDT) and reforming chemistry. By integrating the CHEMKIN combustion solver and the ZDPlaskin discharge solver in a zero-dimensional simulation, IDT was modeled to decrease by 40-60% with high pulse frequencies.<\/p>\n