Pulsed corona tar cracker

This research concentrates on the application of pulsed corona discharges to crack heavy tar components (hydrocarbons) of thermally generated biogas into lighter ones. The method has the advantage that it can operate at a high temperature and be retrofitted to existing installations. The corona discharge is energized by 100-150-ns-wide voltage pulses (100 kV) at a continuous repetition rate of 600-1000 pulses per second. The power dissipated by the corona discharges is 1.5 kW average and 50 MW peak in each pulse. To be cracked by discharges, the hydrocarbons of the tar mixture need to be gaseous, and therefore, the corona reactor must operate at a high temperature. During this first phase of the program, the reactor runs at a modest temperature of up to 200/spl deg/C. The reactor is a 3-m-long stainless steel cylinder, 0.25-m diameter with a corona wire along the axis. The pressure is 1 atmosphere.