Conversion of Nitrous Oxide by Positive Pulsed Corona Discharge

The conversion of nitrous oxide in a positive pulsed corona discharge (PPCD) was studied using two stainless-steel corona reactors with the inner high-voltage electrode made of metal wire (0.3 mm in diameter). The length of the active zone was 0.75 m (reactor R1) or 0.45 m (reactor R2). In the experiments with 5% of oxygen (reactor R1), the overall conversion of N₂O (to oxygen, nitrogen, and NO_x) considerably decreased, which was about 50% smaller than that in argon alone under the same conditions. The presence of a small amount of oxygen in the gas, containing N₂O, allowed us to carry out the process using a considerably lower initial concentration of nitrous oxide. For the initial N₂O concentration below 1%, it was observed that the corona discharge is not stable and changes into a spark discharge. When the N₂O conversion was carried out in argon and oxygen (5% by volume), the conversion of N₂O to NO_x was 11.7% for the initial N₂O concentration of 2%. The influence of oxygen in Ar + N₂O (10%) on the overall conversion and conversion of N₂O to NO_x was also investigated. The increase of oxygen concentration from 5% to 45% resulted in a decrease of the overall N₂ O conversion and its conversion to NO_x . PPCD could have been unstable and changed into a spark discharge when the N₂O concentration was low.