Production of nitric monoxide in dry air using pulsed discharge

Nitric monoxide (NO) is widely used in the medical treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and thus a safe and an effective production of NO is of interest to the medical community. The present work reports on: (1) the production of NO in dry air and in a mixture of O/sub 2/ (26%) and N/sub 2/, and (2) the byproducts in the mixture of O/sub 2/ (26%) and N/sub 2/ subsequent to the application of a pulsed arc discharge. The byproducts which were measured using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) in a mixture of O/sub 2/ (26%) and N/sub 2/ included NO, NO/sub 2/, N/sub 2/O, H/sub 2/O, CO, CO/sub 2/, and CH/sub 4/. It is shown that in dry air, nitric oxide can be produced with the lowest ratio of NO/sub 2//NO/sub X/ where NO/sub X/=NO+NO/sub 2/. The generation of NO using dry air is economical and effective for medical applications.