Plasma-enhanced combustion of a lean premixed air-propane turbulent flame using a nanosecond repetitively pulsed plasma

A Nanosecond Repetitively Pulsed Plasma (NRPP) generator capable of delivering an electric pulse of 10 kV during 10 ns at a frequency of up to 30 kHz has been used to stabilize and improve the efficiency of a 25 kW lean premixed propane/air flame at atmospheric pressure. We show that, when placed in the recirculation zone of the flame, the plasma significantly increases the heat release and the combustion efficiency, thus allowing to stabilize the flame under lean conditions where it would not exist without plasma. Stabilization is obtained with a very low level of plasma power of about 75 W, or 0.3 % of the maximum power of the flame. In addition, we find that at high flow rates, where the flame should normally extinguish, the NRPP allows the existence of an intermittent V-shaped flame with significant heat release, and at even higher flow rates the existence of a small dome-shaped flame confined near the electrodes that can serve as a pilot flame to reignite the combustor. Optical emission spectroscopy measurements are presented to determine the temperature of the plasma-enhanced flame and to identify the active species produced by the plasma, namely O, H and OH.