Combination of plasmas and catalytic reactions for CO2 reforming of CH4 by dielectric barrier discharge process

Abstract

Dry reforming of methane that converts two green-house gases (CH4 and CO2) to syngas (mixture of CO and H2) has gained a great research interests. In this research, we investigated the CO2 reforming of CH4 to syngas by the combination of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasmas and zeolite catalyst particles, which was effective in converting the CO2 and CH4 into syngas. The effects of peak voltage applied to plasmas, total gas flow rate and input CO2/CH4 molar ratio on CO2 and CH4 conversions and H2 and CO selectivities were investigated. The product gases were mainly composed of H2 and CO with some generation of by-products. The conversion efficiencies of CO2 and CH4 in DBD plasmas with zeolite catalyst increased by the increase of voltage applied to plasmas. The selectivities of CO and H2 depend largely on the voltage applied to the plasmas and the ratio of CO2 to CH4, but did not depend significantly on the changes of frequency and total gas flow rate.