Numerical analysis on plasma characteristics of high power plasma torch of hollow electrode type for waste treatment

Summary form only given. Waste treatment is certainly one of the most promising areas of thermal plasma application, which aims either at the reclamation of waste materials for recovering higher valued products or at the destruction of toxic wastes and the generation of environmentally safe by-products. The high power plasma torches have been widely used for the incineration of waste materials to pyrolyze organic toxins and the vitrify the solid materials through their volume reduction in a not-leacheable compact state. In this study, the plasma characteristics of a high power nontransferred plasma torch with hollow electrodes are investigated in the atmospheric condition by analyzing the distributions of plasma temperature, velocity and current density.