Oxidation of saturated hydrocarbons under the effect of nanosecond pulsed space discharge

Slow oxidation of n-butane and n-decane in lean mixtures with oxygen under the action of a nanosecond pulsed discharge has been experimentally investigated. The discharge was excited by 25 ns pulses with an amplitude of 22 kV on high-voltage electrode and repetition frequency of 40 Hz in a 20 cm long quartz tube. The initial pressure of the mixtures was varied within the range from 0.8 to 10 Torr. The energy input in the discharge has been measured. The radiation intensities of the following molecular bands have been measured in time-resolved and integral modes: , , OH(A² Σ, v′ ≤ 0 → X² Π, v″ ≤ 0), CO(B¹ Σ, v′ ≤ 0 → A¹ Π, v″ ≤ 2). It has been demonstrated that, under the same experimental conditions in lean mixtures with oxygen, the times for the n-decane and n-butane oxidation are equal.