The history of the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences dates back to 1959, when the Institute of Vacuum Electronics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences was founded from about 50 former employees of the Research Institute of Vacuum Electronics - especially the Department of Accelerators. In 1963 the Institute was renamed becoming the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. At present, the Institute deals with various aspects of plasma research with a large range of parameters. This research includes fundamental questions as well as the development of new technologies and the implementation of practical applications. In the Plasma Chemical Technologies Department (PCHT) of the Institute of Plasma Physics, a water-stabilised plasma torch with an output of up to 160 kW was developed in the 1990s. Since then, the PCHT department, among other activities, has been using it, to research and develop plasmochemical technologies for the valorisation of organic substances (e.g. methane, pyrolysis oil, electronic waste, etc.) into a synthesis gas composed of hydrogen and carbon monoxide (the hydrogen content can be as high as 90%). The solid residue consists of carbon nanoparticles. Various plasma torches (e.g. DC arc or microwave) with different working gases (air, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, argon, argon-hydrogen mixture, argon-water mixture) are currently used for this purpose. In addition, the department has various plasma reactors for specific purposes. The flexibility of the above-mentioned equipment allows the conditions to be varied and, depending on the feedstock (e.g. methane), can result in the pure hydrogen at the output. The carbon nanoparticles then represent an added value which can lead to the reduction of the market price of the hydrogen thus produced.
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