Development and characterisation of a microwave-heated atmospheric plasma torch

Among other applications, microwave plasma sources at atmospheric pressure are used for the decomposition of halogenated volatile organic compounds (VOC). The presented microwave plasma torch is based on an axially symmetric resonator. Simulations of the electric field distribution, Eigen frequency analyses and measurements of the resonant frequency resulted in an improved design. Microwaves of 2.45GHz are fed into this cavity resulting in a sufficiently high electric field for ignition and maintaining stable plasma. The characterisation of the plasma is made with optical emission spectroscopy. The decomposition of VOC was analysed with FTIR-spectroscopy, a mass spectrometer and an FID.