Patent ID: 8920610

Claim:
A method for controlling an exhaust gas purification system, said method comprising the steps of: deriving a gas mixture from an exhaust gas stream; generating an atmospheric plasma jet exiting from a plasma nozzle; interacting the gas mixture containing an ionisable gas with the atmospheric plasma jet; at least partially ionizing the ionisable gas by the plasma jet thereby forming movable charge carriers, wherein the steps of interacting the gas mixture containing the ionisable gas with the atmospheric plasma jet and of at least partially ionizing the ionisable gas by the plasma jet thereby forming movable charge carriers are contemporaneous; measuring an electric current generated by the charge carriers so as to be used as a measure for the concentration of the ionisable gas in the gas mixture; and controlling the exhaust gas purification system to purify the exhaust gas via the determined value of the concentration of the ionisable gas.