Nonthermal plasma for capturing CO2 as a path to ecologically clean energy

Abstract

One of the serious environmental problems of our time is the impact on global climate change of the atmospheric pollution processes with greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide is the most significant component of the anthropogenic impact on the heat balance of the earth. Therefore, reducing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is becoming increasingly important. Non-thermal plasma technology is considered as an attractive alternative for converting greenhouse gases into syngas and other valuable chemicals at lower temperatures. Highly active species generated in such a plasma are favourable for both initiation and propagation of chemical reactions. The combined effect of plasma and heterogeneous catalysis for fuel production from CH4 reforming has attracted increasing attention. The coupling between plasma and catalyst become complex when the catalyst is placed directly in the plasma. Both chemical and physical properties of the plasma and catalyst can be changed by the presence of each other. In this paper we studied resent progress in non-thermal plasma-catalysis research for CO2 capturing application.