Hello, my name is Carolina Garcia and I am a Mexican enthusiast for science. After obtaining my bachelor’s degree in Biochemical Engineering, I worked for three years in a medical device company as a chemical analyst and later as a project engineer. Afterwards, I continued with my studies in the Eramus Mundus master program “Advanced Spectroscopy in Chemistry”. This program led me to the department of Industrial Chemistry in the University of Bologna where I did my master’s thesis in the glucose oxidation using gold nanoparticles. That experience motivated me to continue studying catalysts and the mechanisms involved in the reaction. As a result, I am currently working at the Laboratory of Plasma physics in Ecole Polytechnique as PhD student where I investigate the role of vibrationally excited states of carbon dioxide for its conversion using plasma in a fluidised bed reactor.
| Overview |  |
| ESR: | 15 |
| Title: | Role of vibrationally excited molecules on catalytic surfaces |
| Secondment: | Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas (CNRS-LPP) |
| 1st Supervisor: | Olivier Guaitella |
| Home Institution: | University of Bucharest (UoB) |
| 2nd Supervisor: | Vasile Parvulescu |
| Industrial Partner: | Solayl |
| Industrial Contact: | Sebastien Dine |
Objectives
The purpose of this ESR will be to evaluate the relevance of fluidized bed reactors coupled with non thermal plasmas. The expected advantages would be a better use of the whole mass of catalytic material and a better heat exchange to prevent high temperatures that could promote back reaction from CO to CO2. The fluidized bed regime (FB) can be achieved with well-calibrated particles having sizes from few tens of nm to few microns. The typical gas velocities required to obtain a FB are a few [m/s]. A RF discharge will be ignited in a tube of typically 2 cm inner diameter with gas pressure of a few mbar. In such conditions, typical gas flow of 1 L/min should provide fluidized regime. For a good recirculation with heavier particles, gas flow of 10 L/min will be necessary. In the DBD reactor, with 1 mm gap and 2 cm width, a gas flow of 5 L/min should provide a gas velocity about 4 m/s that is given in the literature as a typical value for obtaining fluidized bed. Special care will be taken for the gas distributor at the bottom of the reactor. Most of the studies dedicated to fluidized beds are dealing with large dimensions. The behavior of small dimensions reactor, with particles charges by the plasma will be completely new but it is probable that the strong influence of the wall will favor captive regimes unless electrostatic phenomena can increase the circulation of particles. The particles used will be developed and calibrated at UoB. They will have a large content of MgO not only for their catalytic activity also studied in other ESRs of PIONEER but also because MgO is a very efficient secondary electron emitter that could promote homogeneous discharge at elevated pressure. The gas mixtures studied will first be pure CO2, but then will move towards CO2/H2O and CO2/H2. Characterization of gas phase species but also of particles by DRIFT and transmission FTIR will be performed and gas temperature measurement in the reactor, as well as a variety of surface diagnostics at UoB.
Links with other ESR
- ESRs 6-10: Cmparison with CO2 conversion efficiency obtained in conventional DBD reactors
Expected Results
- Relevance of fluidized bed reactor coupled with plasma for CO2 conversion
- Obtaining discharge with lower electric field at atmospheric pressure or close to atmospheric pressure