Measuring NO and temperature in plasma preheated air using UV absorption spectroscopy

A new fast sensor for simultaneous high temperature diagnostics (above 800 K) of nitrogen oxide (NO) concentration and gas temperature (T) was developed based on the spectral fitting of low-resolution NO UV absorption near 226 nm. The sensor was intended for process control in future low-carbon footprint heavy process industries using renewable powered electro fuels (e.g. H2, NH3) or plasma torches as heat source. Due to excitation of molecular vibration, the shape of the selected NO feature, including (0, 0), (1, 1), and (2, 2) vibrational transitions of the A2Σ+ − X2Π2 electronic system had a strong temperature sensitivity at temperatures above 800 K. The fitting was made using the well-known NO molecular constants of the A2Σ+ − X2Π2 electronic system. To reduce the computational time, a library of the molecular spectra calculated at different temperatures was created. The fitting of an experimental spectrum representing the convolution of the instrument line function of the spectrometer with the molecular spectra was performed using the pre-calculated library spectra. Based on comparison with conventional measurement methods, the accuracy of the developed sensor was within 15% for NO and about 40 K for T, clearly showing the potential for fast in situ diagnostics in hot process gases.