Credit: B. Honnorat, V. Brüser, and J.F. Kolb
The plasma chamber in the experimental reactor setup, where 2-kilowatt microwave pulses are applied to a model stand-in for biomass, a recirculating carboxymethyl cellulose solution. Plasma induction in the material resulted in reduced viscosity, and the authors suspect it may break the polymer chain in lignocellulose.