Ozone production using nanosecond-pulse and AC driven DBD in mixtures of oxygen and argon

Abstract

Ozone (O3) in a strong oxidizing agent with many industrial applications, such as bleaching, water disinfectant treatment, elimination of odors, etc . It can be produced in electrical discharges and, particularly, dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) is commonly used in large installations. Reducing the energy cost of ozone production is of prime importance in industrial applications and, among other factors, the voltage waveform used in stimulation of the DBD is known to play an important role. Therefore, it is of interest to determine which stimulation provides the best electrical energy conversion to promote the chemical reactions that maximize the ozone yield with the highest energy efficiency. In this work, the energy efficiency of ozone production using DBD fed with pure oxygen (O2) and with a mixture of 50 % oxygen and 50 % argon (Ar) has been investigated. Two different forms of stimulation have been used: AC and pulses of nanosecond duration.