Partial Oxidation of Methane with Yttria-stabilized Zirconia Catalyst in a Dielectric Barrier Discharge

Abstract

Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) has been used and studied as a catalyst material for the direct partial oxidation of methane into methanol using dielectric barrier discharge (DBD). The methanol synthesis process occurred at ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure. It showed that YSZ has an activity to increase the production of methanol. It was twice as high in methanol selectivity than non-catalytic plasma process. The YSZ catalyst also showed better performance compared to other common catalyst supports, e.g., carbon, Al2O3, TiO2, and SiO2. Instead of methanol, the reaction products of plasma reactions were dominated by H2, CO, CO2, C2, and water. The optimum methanol selectivity reached 23% when Ni metal was doped over YSZ.