Abstract
With the rising need for fertilisers to meet global food demand, finding a sustainable process for nitrogen fixation (NF) into NO and NO? is crucial to achieving global climate goals. Plasma-based NF is promising due to its compatibility with renewable energy, operation at near-ambient conditions, and decentralised operation. The process has, however, not yet reached the energy costs required to be fully industrially viable. Electronically excited N? states (N?*) produced under chemical non-equilibrium conditions have been suggested to be critical drivers of NOx production with a competitive energy cost. The overarching aim of my project is to develop a predictive computational fluid dynamics model, thoroughly validated with experiments in atmospheric-pressure ns-pulsed air plasma, to investigate the chemical non-equilibrium and N?*-driven mechanism for energy-efficient NOx production. To achieve this, I will develop a pin-to-pin ns-pulsed plasma reactor to extensively study various plasma pulse parameters, which will act as input and validation for my predictive model. The synergy between experiments and model will serve to solidify the importance of the N?*-driven mechanism and provide insights into and actualisation of the optimal conditions for energy-efficient NOx production. My research will contribute towards sustainable chemical production by reducing the high CO? emission and energy consumption currently tied to fertiliser production.
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