A theory of the plasma torch for waste-treatment

Conference · Wed Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1997

OSTI ID:321049

Uhm, H S ^[1]; Hong, S H ^[2]

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1. Naval Surface Warfare Center, West Bethesda, MD (United States)
2. Seoul National Univ. (Korea, Republic of)

Arc-plasma technology has broad applications to waste treatment processing including the safe disposal of hazardous and low-level radioactive wastes. The plasma torch could be useful to the development of an efficient, compact, lightweight, clean burning incinerator for industrial and municipal waste disposal in an environmentally beneficial way. The authors therefore develop a simple theoretical model describing physics of the plasma torch plume in connection with its applications to the arc-plasma waste-treatment system. The theoretical analysis is carried out by making use of Bernoulli`s pressure-balance equation, which provides a stable equilibrium solution of the gas density in the plume ejected from the torch into a high-pressure reactor chamber with 4{var_epsilon} < 1. The pressure depression parameter {var_epsilon} is proportional to the gas temperature and inversely proportional to the square of the chamber pressure. In a low-pressure chamber, characterized by 4{var_epsilon} > 1, there is no stable equilibrium solution satisfying Bernoulli`s equation. Therefore, it is expected that the observable plasma data may change abruptly as the chamber pressure crosses the borderline defined by 4{var_epsilon} = 1. Indeed most of the plasma data measured in an experiment change abruptly at the pressure borderline of 4{var_epsilon} = 1.

• OSTI ID: 321049
• Report Number(s): CONF-970559--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
INCINERATORS
INDUSTRIAL WASTES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MUNICIPAL WASTES
PLASMA JETS
WASTE PROCESSING