Temperature-Dependent Functions of the Electron–Neutral Momentum Transfer Collision Cross Sections of Selected Combustion Plasma Species

The collision cross sections (CCS), momentum transfer cross sections (MTCS), or scattering cross sections (SCS) of an electron–neutral pair are important components for computing the electric conductivity of a plasma gas. Larger collision cross sections for electrons moving freely within neutral particles (molecules or atoms) cause more scattering of these electrons by the neutral particles, which leads to degraded electron mobility, and thus reduced electric conductivity of the plasma gas that consists of electrons, neutral particles, and ions. The present work aimed to identify the level of disagreement between four different methods for describing how electron–neutral collision cross sections vary when they are treated as a function of electron temperature alone. These four methods are based on data or models previously reported in the literature. The analysis covered six selected gaseous species that are relevant to combustion plasma, which are as follows: carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), molecular hydrogen (H2), water vapor (H2O), potassium vapor (K), and molecular oxygen (O2). The temperature dependence of the collision cross sections for these species was investigated in the range from 2000 K to 3000 K, which is suitable for both conventional air–fuel combustion and elevated-temperature oxygen–fuel (oxy-fuel) combustion. The findings of the present study suggest that linear functions are enough to describe the variations in the collision cross sections of the considered species in the temperature range of interest for combustion plasma. Also, the values of the coefficient of variation (defined as the sample standard deviation divided by the mean) in the collision cross sections using the four methods were approximately 27% for CO, 42% for CO2, 13% for H2, 39% for H2O, 44% for K, and 19% for O2. The information provided herein can assist in simulating magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) power generators using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models for combustion plasma flows.