Partial Oxidation of Methane with Sol-Gel Fe/Hf/YSZ Catalyst in Dielectric Barrier Discharge: Catalyst Activation by Plasma

Abstract

A 1% Fe-30% Hf over yttria-stabilized zirconia catalyst in combination with novel plasma-assisted activation techniques for a direct partial oxidation of methane to methanol was tested using dielectric barrier discharge plasma at ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure. However, instead of methanol, the reaction products were dominated by H 2, CO, CO 2, C 2, and H 2O. A catalytically activated plasma process increased the production of methanol compared with a noncatalytic plasma process. The maximum selectivity of methanol production was achieved using a catalyst that was treated at higher applied power.