One of NASA's functions is developing and demonstrating new flight technologies for both military and civilian use. The technology proposed here, if implemented, can reduce fuel consumption or increase payload. Either will make aircraft operation more profitable. Reducing fuel consumption will also reduce emissions, including aircraft produced CO2. Increasing boundary layer attachment will also make the aircraft more responsive to its controls, an added advantage. Developing and dispersing this flow control technology will be of greatest benefit outside of NASA, with improved safety and profitability for commercial aircraft operators at all levels, from private pilots to commercial airlines. Beyond these direct flow control applications, development of the pulsed plasma jet systems have several other potential applications in the energy and emissions control industries. The significant energy associated with the ions, neutrals, metastables, and electrons in a dielectric barrier discharge can be utilized for heavy hydrocarbon cracking in oil refineries, producing alternative fuels from various feedstocks such as JP-8, renewable feedstocks such as biomass, and for producing energy from waste such as waste cooking oil, municipal solid waste etc. The pulsed plasma can also be used for regenerating NOx and CO2 emission control catalysts, by generating an oxygen discharge that can burn off the soot generated on the catalyst surface.
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