Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	EP/D004748/1
Title:	Role of helicity on the quality of microchannel plasma generation
Principal Investigator:	Zimmerman, Professor W
Other Investigators:	Allen, Professor R
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department:	Chemical & Biological Engineering
Organisation:	University of Sheffield
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	01 October 2005	Ends:	30 September 2006	Value (£):	97,148
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Plasmas - Technological
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
This project aims to construct a rotating prototype microchannel plasma reactor using inductance techniques. A barrage of analytical techniques will be used to characterize the efficacy of plasma generation and assess the ability of swirling flows to contain the plasma to minimise plasma extinction on the channel walls. The goals of plant-on-a-chip technology are molecular efficiency and flexibility / wasting less resource, but also achieving a wider range of options than conventional macroscale chemical processes. Plasma reactors can synthesize a broad gamut of products due to their highly reactive environment, yet selectivity is difficult to design. Engineering for enhanced selectivity in plasma reactions requires tight control over the conditions, particularly the fluid dynamics, and the staging of processes. Microchannel technology can potentially deliver such control with high field gradients customized over short distances. The promise is that through protocols for combinatorial experimentation and simulation, design, control and operational guidelines for networks of microreactors and other microchannel unit operations, product molecules on an in-situ and just-in-time basis can be delivered. But to expand the range of products available, multiple reactor types must be available. Plasma microchannel reactors, if acheiveable, will make the envelope of possible product molecules bigger. Since greater control handles are possible in microchannel reactors, this mode of chemical processing will be a paradigm shift for both plasma reactors and microchannel processing.
Key Findings
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Potential use in non-academic contexts
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Further Information:
Organisation Website:	http://www.shef.ac.uk