Boosting the dissociation of CO 2 by employing shock-free supersonic expansion

The effect of shock-free supersonic expansion on the dissociation of CO 2 with elevated vibrational temperatures is investigated. It is found that expansion-cooling not only favors dissociation but also obstructs recombination. The dissociation generated by VV ladder climbing is investigated using the two different model-types: 1D Full Numerical (Fu-N) and Semi-Analytical (S-An). The Fu-N gives a more complete self-consistent description but needs about 1000 times longer convergence time. Comparison between the models' results shows a good agreement. This justifies the application of the S-An approach for a fast parameter space exploration of experimental settings. It is found that the dissociation degree mainly depends on the VDF-temperature of CO 2 at the inlet of the supersonic expansion.