furnaces heated by flames and was further applied to flames, ... hancement of hydrogen and fuel-blended diffusion flames). ... We hope that this special issue.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. 36, NO. 6, DECEMBER 2008
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Guest Editorial Third Special Issue on Plasma-Assisted Combustion
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OLLOWING the success of the first IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE (TPS) Special Issue on Plasma-Assisted Combustion (PAC; December 2006), the Editor-in-Chief of TPS decided to make such an issue an annual event. This will be the third issue in the series. For nearly two hundred years, the application of electric fields to flames has been studied. It found practical application almost one hundred years ago in increasing temperatures in furnaces heated by flames and was further applied to flames, burners, and internal-combustion engines during the past six decades. When the magnitude of an electric field applied to a fuel or fuel/air mixture is sufficient to cause electrical breakdown, plasma effects will dominate. Plasma effects can increase electron and ion temperatures and promote combustion through the dissociation of fuel molecules into smaller more easily combusted fragments and the formation of “active” species (such as free radicals or excited-state molecules) which can promote combustion reactions. PAC is currently a field that is growing in interest worldwide, possibly having applications to more efficient fossil-fuel usage, the conversion of low-grade fuels into higher grade fuels, the reduction of pollution through ultralean burn combustion, improved methods of combustion ignition, and the conversion of fossil fuel (e.g., coal) or municipal waste into usable energy— all timely topics in this first decade of the 21st Century. PAC is an emerging cross-disciplinary field of plasma science and technology. Considering a greater concern about global climate change and the need for more energy-efficient and lesspolluting combustion techniques, PAC is currently receiving greater interest and is in need of a more established forum for scientists and researchers to disseminate and review the current research and applications in the field. The intention of this special issue continues the aim of the first special issue, namely, to provide an integrated forum for reporting on timely research in the field and to promote further interest and exchange of technical information in this exciting and technologically practical area of plasma science. Contributions were solicited in the primary topic areas of the physics/chemistry of the effects of plasmas on flames and deflagration-to-detonation transitions; the use of plasmas to promote and/or improve efficiency in engines (automotive, aircraft, etc.) or flames and/or burners; plasma sources (e.g., jets) for improved ignition; applications to aircraft pulsed detonation engines; applications to pollution reduction through enhanced combustion; and applications to fuel reforming/conversion (e.g., fossil fuel to hydrogen) and the conversion of municipal waste to energy.
This special issue contains ten papers. Basic research is represented by four papers, namely, of Tropina et al. (nonequilibrium air plasma modeling), Bychkov et al. (combined plasmas), Cappelli et al. (plasma stabilized diffusion flames), and Renneke et al. (gaseous fuel cracking using nonequilibrium plasma). The application of plasmas to ignition processes is represented by the papers of Vinogradov et al. (microwave plasma ignition of kerosene–air mixtures), Do et al. (pulsed nonequilibrium plasma ignition of jet flames under supersonic conditions), and Ombrello et al. (plasma-driven kinetic enhancement of hydrogen and fuel-blended diffusion flames). Three papers, namely, by Chernyak et al. (plasma-assisted ethanol reformation), Serbin et al. (hybrid plasma fuel reformer), and Ustimenko et al. (plasma gasification of coal), highlight the use of plasmas for fuel conversion or reformation. The Guest Editors thank the authors for the excellent papers in this special issue. We hope that this special issue will stimulate the submission of similar high-quality papers in future issues of the TRANSACTIONS. In addition, the Guest Editors thank the Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Steven Gitomer, for his encouragement for and assistance in preparing the special issue. In the future, a special issue slated for December 2009 will contain selected papers from the 4th International Workshop and Exhibition on PAC that was held in September 2008 in Falls Church, VA. This workshop had over 45 attendees from eight countries, namely, Brazil, Canada, Kazakhstan, Korea, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine, and the United States. Thirty-one papers were presented in five sessions: 1) plasma ignition and flame control; 2) plasma generation, diagnostics and modeling; 3) fuel reformation and activation; 4) waste-into-energy processing; and 5) plasma effects and prospective future applications. As energy, pollution, and global-climate-change issues rise in importance worldwide, it is expected that this emerging field of plasma science and technology will also grow in terms of basic research, as well as additional practical applications.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPS.2008.2009661 0093-3813/$25.00 © 2008 IEEE
IGOR B. MATVEEV, Guest Editor Applied Plasma Technologies McLean, VA 22101 USA LOUIS A. ROSOCHA, Guest Editor Applied Physics Consulting Los Alamos, NM 87545 USA
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. 36, NO. 6, DECEMBER 2008
Igor B. Matveev was born in Russia on February 11, 1954. He received the M.Sc. degree in mechanical engineering and the Ph.D. degree, with a Ph.D. thesis entitled “Development and Implementation of The Plasma Ignition Systems for Naval Gas Turbines,” from the Nikolaev Shipbuilding Institute, Nikolaev, Ukraine, in 1977 and 1984, respectively. From 1977 to 1990, he was a Researcher, Teacher, and Associate Professor with the Nikolaev Shipbuilding Institute. In 1990, he established a privately owned company Plasmatechnika (Ukraine) for the development and mass production of plasma systems. Over 1200 plasma systems developed under his supervision are in operation worldwide. From 2000 to 2002, he was an International Consultant with the United Nations (UN) Economic Commission for Europe in energy and water conservation. In that time frame, the UN project established the Energy and Water Conservation Zones in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Since 2003, he has been with Applied Plasma Technologies, McLean, VA, as President and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Matveev is a Guest Editor for the IEEE Plasma-Assisted Combustion (PAC) Special Issue. He has been an organization committee Chair for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th International Workshop and Exhibition on PAC since 2004. In 1996, he was awarded the title “Citizen of the Year” in his native city.
Louis A. Rosocha received the B.S. degree in physics from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, in 1972, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physics, with a minor in chemistry, from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1975 and 1979, respectively. From 1978 to 1981, he was with the National Research Group of Madison, WI, where he assisted in the development of pulsed ultraviolet lasers and fast pulsed- power switchgear and led a project on the modeling of commercial ozone generators. From October 1981 to January 2008, he was a Technical Staff Member and Manager of the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Over the course of his career, he has worked on plasma chemistry, large inertial fusion gas laser systems, relativistic electron beam sources, pulsed power, and nonthermal plasma processing. His current research interests include plasma-assisted combustion (PAC) and pollution abatement and chemical synthesis using plasmas. He organized the 1st International Workshop on PAC in 2003, coorganized the second event in 2006, and served on the steering committee in 2007 and 2008. After taking an early retirement from LANL, he became an independent consultant, and his current R&D interests are focused on two of the most important problems of our time, namely, CO2 sequestration/global warming and national energy security (improving combustion, the efficiency of engines/fuels, and the conversion of trash into “green” energy). He is currently with Applied Physics Consulting, Los Alamos, NM.
