THEORY AND COMPUTATION OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE THERMAL ELECTRIC PLASMA ARC FOR CHEMICAL ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS

Abstract

A generalized mathematical model has been developed for calculation of the characteristics of a thermal plasma arc under convective conditions. The geometry of the system analyzed is based on a novel technique which has demonstrated the capability of having a stream of gas injected into the core of the arc column around a cathode electrode with a high degree of penetration without affecting the arc stability allowing high throughputs of material. The general problem of the simultaneous solution of the conservation equations of mass, momentum, energy, and charge for a continuous plasma had been shown using incremental iterative techniques. High throughput convective arcs will now make practical many chemical and physical transformation processes. The inclusion of a more comprehensive current density makes the thermal arc more characterized than heretofore.