Plasmas for Gas Conversion Group

Non-equilibrium, low temperature plasmas are very promising as a flexible and efficient tool for storing energy via conversion of CO₂into added-value chemicals such as CO or methanol – also called “solar fuels” when produced from renewable energies.

The plasma for gas conversion group investigates CO₂ microwave plasmas up to atmospheric pressure for the production of CO. Compared with other processes being developed for CO₂ valorisation, microwave plasmas can treat large gas flows with short transit times. Furthermore, microwave plasma sources can be easily scaled up to the megawatts range.

Several types of laboratory-scale microwave plasmas are investigated by a suite of plasma diagnostics (atomic and molecular spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, laser induced fluorescence and scattering techniques) to assess their non-equilibrium state. The experimental results are supported by numerical modelling in order to unravel the kinetics and energy balance of the plasma with the goal of improving the energy efficiency of the process.