Influence of flow regime on the decomposition of diluted methane in a nitrogen rotating gliding arc

This work reports the operation of rotating gliding arc (RGA) reactor at a high flow rate and the effect of flow regimes on its chemical performance, which is not explored much. When the flow regime was changed from transitional to turbulent flow ([Formula: see text] ), operation mode transitioned from glow to spark type; the average electric field, gas temperature, and electron temperature raised ([Formula: see text] , [Formula: see text] , and [Formula: see text] ). The decomposition’s energy efficiency ([Formula: see text] ) increased by a factor of 3.9 ([Formula: see text] ). The first three dominant methane consumption reactions (MCR) for both the flow regimes were induced by [Formula: see text] , CH, and [Formula: see text] (key-species), yet differed by their contribution values. The MCR rate increased by 80–148% [induced by e and singlet—[Formula: see text] ], and decreased by 34–93% [CH, [Formula: see text] , triplet—[Formula: see text] ], due to turbulence. The electron-impact processes generated atleast 50% more of key-species and metastables for every 100 eV of input energy, explaining the increased [Formula: see text] at turbulent flow. So, flow regime influences the plasma chemistry and characteristics through flow rate. The reported RGA reactor is promising to mitigate the fugitive hydrocarbon emissions energy efficiently at a large scale, requiring some optimization to improve conversion.