Efficiency of ozone production by pulsed positive corona discharge in synthetic air

Abstract

We have studied the efficiency of ozone production by pulsed positive corona discharge in coaxial wire-cylinder geometry at atmospheric pressure. A corona discharge was generated by short (~150 ns) high voltage pulses applied between a silver coated copper wire anode and stainless steel cylinder cathode in synthetic air. A pyrex probe and Teflon tube was used for collecting discharge products and an ozone concentration was monitored outside of the discharge chamber by a non-dispersive UV absorbtion technique. The production of ozone was investigated as a function of energy density (10-4-3×10-1 Wh l-1) delivered to the discharge volume by combining the discharge frequency (0.1-10 Hz) and airflow rate (1-32 l min-1). From ozone concentration measurements we have evaluated the ozone production, yield and production energy cost. The ozone production yield and cost vary in the range of 15-55 g kWh-1 and 35-110 eV/molecule.