A methane-air premixed flame modified by a rotating arc has been investigated. The rotating arc and the flame are generated with a cylindrical reactor, in which tangentially supplied air and fuel rotate the arc. The test results show that the flammabi...
A methane-air premixed flame modified by a rotating arc has been investigated. The rotating arc and the flame are generated with a cylindrical reactor, in which tangentially supplied air and fuel rotate the arc. The test results show that the flammability limit is significantly extended by the rotating arc. Here, the power consumed for generating the rotating arc is 35 W that corresponds to few % of the heat energy released from the flame. The characteristics of the emission from the flame, which are NOx, CO, and unburned hydrocarbons, are rather complicated and vary depending on air-fuel ratios. The test data including optical emission spectroscopy confirm that the methane is decomposed not only by typical combustion process but also by methane decomposition process affected by arc.