Plasma reforming of n-pentane as a simulated gasoline to hydrogen and cleaner carbon-based fuels

Abstract

Nonthermal plasma is a promising technology for the on-board reforming of gasoline or diesel fuels into cleaner fuels. However, the formation of deep cracking products, such as carbon particulates, discourages the development of an environmentally friendly process. The authors report the reformation of n-pentane (C5H12) using methane (CH4) or carbon dioxide (CO2) in a temperature-controlled dielectric barrier discharge reactor to produce the H2 and carbon-based clean products. A mechanistic study suggests that electron-induced chemistry dominates C5H12 and the added gas conversion, whereas the thermochemistry controls the product distribution. On this basis, the product distribution is varied by the enriched CH3 and H, or the enriched O by adding CH4 or CO2. When increasing CH4 percentage from 0 to 75%, the production of short-chain alkanes (C1–C4 alkanes) and H2 were increased by around 29% and 45%, respectively. The increase in CO2 (0–75%) percentage resulted in the increased production of oxygenated fuels (0–9%). Our results emphasize the advantages of using low-temperature plasma for the co-production of H2 and clean carbon-based fuels (chemical intermediates), which may offer a new concept for the design of a practical on-board plasma reformer.