Experimental study and kinetic modeling of methane decomposition in a rotating arc plasma reactor with different cross-sectional areas

Abstract

Methane decomposition into hydrogen and carbon is analyzed in a plasma reactor, with a rotating arc and different cross-sectional areas for the passing gas. This novel setup helps the arc discharge to sweep a larger fraction of the reactant which could cause a better interaction of methane molecules with plasma phase causing higher conversions. The effects of angular velocity of arc discharge, feed flow rate, and cross-sectional area for the passing gas were investigated on the reactor performance. Methane conversion increased significantly by changing the arc mode from stationary to rotating. Increasing the cross-sectional area for the passing gas causes conversion drop for stationary arc whereas a slight increase in conversion is observed for rotating arc mode. Hydrogen production rate of 100 ml/min with an energy yield of 26.8 g/kWh achieved at a methane flow rate of 150 ml/min. The residence time is estimated to be 0.2–3.9 s in the range of the present study, which is a much longer period compared to the plasma process time. Therefore, it is suggested that the mass transfer rate between the gas and plasma phase is the controlling factor for methane conversion. In this respect, an apparent reaction rate constant is derived by considering methane conversion as that fraction of gas, which is exposed to the active area of the plasma arc column.