Suppression of reverse reactions during carbon dioxide decomposition in microwave discharge plasma

The paper investigates the decomposition of carbon dioxide (CO$_2$) in a plasma maintained by microwave radiation from a gyrotron at a frequency of 24 GHz in a waveguide plasmatron in a flow of argon and CO$_2$. An increase in the degree of CO$_2$ conversion and energy efficiency up to 2.5 times was demonstrated due to cooling (quenching) of the post-discharge region by a counterflow gas. It is shown that the cooling efficiency depends on the density and heat capacity of the quenching gas, and the maximum degree of conversion is achieved when nitrogen and argon are used as quenching gases.