New semiconductor based blumlein modulator for non-thermal plasma discharges in water

Summary form only given. This work presents the first results on the production of nonthermal plasma discharges in water, for environmental applications, from a newly developed solid-state Blumlein modulator into a continuous flow water reactor.Application of atmospheric pressure non-equilibrium plasma, produced for example by Dielectric Barrier Discharges, DBD, is spreading out into various engineering fields, such as environment applications, due to its special advantages of forming a highly reactive plasma at almost room temperature with low energy consumption using simple reactor systems. The driving force has been the development of compact and more energy efficient pulsed power modulators, based on semiconductors, with the capability of producing subnanoseconds width high voltage pulses with high-repetition rates. In effect, in comparison to other types of voltages, such as AC, high voltage pulses enable a very high instantaneous energy input concentrated at the sharp voltage rising and falling. This instantaneous high energy input enhances the formation efficiency of highly energetic electrons resulting in the efficient formation of key radical species with the potential for decompose water contaminants and inactivating microorganisms. The modulator here presented consists of a five stages semiconductor based Marx generator connected to a three stages Blumlein line, where the Marx charges and discharges the line, and in doing so generates at the load bipolar voltage pulses with widths of about 50 ns and voltage amplitudes up to 10 kV. Experimental results regarding the generation of plasma discharges in a continuous flow water reactor will be presents and discussed, as well as the yield of the produced sub products considering various parameters of the high-voltage pulses and reactor characteristics.