Microwave induced plasmas for the analysis of molecular components in incinerator gases

The behavior of mols. in different microwave-induced plasmas (MIPs) has been studied by means of optical emission spectroscopy (OES) in order to study if MIP-OES can be used for the anal. of mol. components in incinerator gases. Various mol. species (i.e., N2, CO2, SF6, H2O, and SO2) have been introduced into argon or purely mol. plasmas at both atm. and reduced pressure. Emission from the introduced mols. is only obsd. in the case of nitrogen (emission bands from the first and second pos. system). With other mol. gases, only dissocn. and assocn. products are obsd. (i.e., at. species, CN, C2, CO, OH, NH). The intensities produced by these products has been studied as a function of the pressure, the concn. of introduced mols., and the position in the plasma. Because mainly assocn. products are obsd., anal. of mol. components in incinerator gases with MIP-OES is not a straightforward matter. Moreover, emission from N2, the dominant mol. in incinerator gases, is very intense and extends from 290 to 1000 nm, covering almost this entire spectral range with bands. [on SciFinder (R)