Plasma as an enabling tool in the era of electrification; cases of applicatoin and prospects

In order to reduce climate change and CO2 emissions, various technical concepts related to CCUS, carbonfree fuels, electrification and efficiency improvement have been proposed and implemented. Among these pathways, electrification refers to a change of energy source that electricity becomes the beginning of energy carrier, based on the use of renewable energy that has a form of only electricity. Industrialization began in earnest through the use of fossil fuels with higher energy density than that of a wood as a fuel, and in the beginning, it was in the form of burning fossil fuels to generate heat energy and converting it into mobility, electric energy and so on. However, as CO2 generation became an issue in the first process of energy production through the combustion of fossil fuels, the meaning of electricity as a provider of ‘heat energy’ that can replace the combustion process began to emerge, and the true completion of ‘electrification’ will be made possible through the utilization of electricity as a heat source. Among the various heating methods based on the electricity, plasma is the mean by which it can generate the highest temperature and thus provide the highest energy density. In this presentation, selected application of plasma as a heating source, especially as a heat source fro chemical process will be briefly introduced and prospects on the possible use of plasma as a means of electrification will be discussed.