Effect of Cooling Methods on Methane Conversion via Dielectric-Barrier Discharges

Abstract

Effects of cooling methods on stability and methane conversion rate using dielectric-barrier discharges (DBD) were systematically investigated in this article. The results showed that the methane conversion rate was as high as 44.43% in a pure methane system at a flow rate of 100 mL ± min−1 and an input power of 234.2 W with air cooling. A dark greenish and soft film-like carbon was deposited on the outer surface of quartz tube when the outer electrode was water-cooled, which decreased the methane conversion. With air cooling of inner electrode the selectivity of C2 hydrocarbons was higher than that with other cooling methods, while the C3 hydrocarbons had higher selectivity with flowing water cooling. Cooling the inner electrode could restrain the carbon deposition, but would decrease the methane conversion rate. The stability of both reaction and plasma operation can be improved through cooling the reactor. From thermodynamic analysis, it was found that the effective collisions frequency among the reactant molecules and free electrons (e−) increased with temperature, which in turn led to a higher methane conversion rate and a change in the distribution of products.