In the present work the process of hydrogen production was conducted in the plasma-catalytic reactor, the substrates were first treated with plasma and then introduced into the catalyst bed. Plasma was produced by a spark discharge. The discharge power ranged from 15 to 46 W. The catalyst was metallic nickel supported on Al₂O₃. The catalyst was active from a temperature of 400 °C. The substrate flow rate was 1 mol/h of water and 1 mol/h of methanol. The process generated H₂, CO, CO₂ and CH₄. The gas which formed the greatest amount was H₂. Its concentration in the gas was ~60%. The conversion of methanol and the production of hydrogen in the plasma-catalytic reactor were higher than in the plasma and catalytic reactors. The synergy effect of the interaction of two environments, i.e., plasma and the catalyst, was observed. The highest hydrogen production was 1.38 mol/h and the highest methanol conversion was 64%. The increased in the discharge power resulted in increasing methanol conversion and hydrogen production.

This study concerns the production of hydrogen from a mixture of ethanol and water. The process was conducted in plasma generated by a spark discharge. The substrates were introduced in the liquid phase into the reactor. The gaseous products formed in the spark reactor were hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, acetylene, and ethylene. Coke was also produced. The energy efficiency of hydrogen production was 27 mol(H₂)/kWh, and it was 36% of the theoretical energy efficiency. The high value of the energy efficiency of hydrogen production was obtained with relatively high ethanol conversion (63%). In the spark discharge, it was possible to conduct the process under conditions in which the ethanol conversion reached 95%. However, this entailed higher energy consumption and reduced the energy efficiency of hydrogen production to 8.8 mol(H₂)/kWh. Hydrogen production increased with increasing discharge power and feed stream. However, the hydrogen concentration was very high under all tested conditions and ranged from 57.5 to 61.5%. This means that the spark reactor is a device that can feed fuel cells, the power load of which can fluctuate.

The exact nature of thermal processes occurring in an electric motor is often unknown. Thus, the estimation of temperature rise using mathematical models and computational experiments is becoming increasingly important. Thermal analysis is the key design aspect, which has become significant in the design process for electric motors. The thermal analysis of electric motors can be helpful in developing effective thermal monitoring methods. This analysis is crucial for a better understanding of the overall performance and failure prevention for these electrical motors. In this paper, laboratory investigations of thermal processes in low-voltage asynchronous motors are described. The analysis of the results leads to the conclusion that the classic single-exponential models do not match the dynamically changing thermal processes in electric motors especially in the case of intermittent motor operation.

The decomposition of CCl4 in air was investigated at atmospheric pressure in a new type of dielectric barrier discharge reactor. The reactor was powered by three different power supplies: pulsed of low frequency (150–600 Hz), pulsed of 15 kHz frequency with regulated current pulse duration and AC of 6.8 kHz frequency. Maximum conversion of CCl4 depended on the power supply. 64, 87 and 98% were the maximum achieved conversions of CCl4 for tested power supplies. The products of CCl4 conversion and energy consumption depended on power supply system. The chlorine gas was always the main product obtained from CCl4. The smallest energy consumption (~0.3 kWh per mol CCl4 converted) was achieved for pulsed power supply system of low frequency. It was 26 and 230 times less than energy consumption (for similar overall CCl4 conversion) in AC of 6.8 kHz frequency and pulsed of 15 kHz frequency respectively.

The present work describes highly efficient hydrogen production from ethanol in a plasma-catalytic reactor depending on the discharge power and catalyst bed temperature. Hydrogen production increased as the power increased from 15 to 25 W. A further power increase to 35 W did not increase hydrogen production. The catalyst was already active at a temperature of 250 °C, and its activity increased with increasing temperature to 450 °C. The further temperature increase did not increase the activity of the cobalt catalyst. The most important advantage of using the catalyst was the increased ethanol conversion to CO₂ instead of CO production. As a result, the hydrogen yield was very high and reached 4.1 mol(H₂)/mol(C₂H₅OH). This result was obtained with a stoichiometric molar ratio of water to ethanol of 3.