A repetitive high-voltage pulse source for pulsed corona treatment of gases

This paper gives an overview of the Eindhoven pulsed corona pilot unit and discusses results from laboratory and on-site tests on the cleaning of biogas. The unit can operate under polluted conditions and can easily be integrated in various industrial processes. The corona discharges are energized by 100-200 ns wide voltage pulses (100 kV) at a repetition rate of maximum 1000 pulses-per-second. The power dissipated by the corona discharges is typically 50 MW peak in each pulse, the energy per pulse is max. 3 J. It is shown that: (i) the pilot corona unit has proven to be reliable under laboratory conditions and during industrial on-site tests; (ii) tar components in biogas can be removed at energy densities between 39 and 154 J/L, depending on the component type; and (iii) heavy tar components in industrial biogas are converted at energy densities of 148-161 J/L.