The objective of the present work was to study the reforming of simulated natural gas via the nonthermal plasma process with the focus on the production of hydrogen and higher hydrocarbons. The reforming of simulated natural gas was conducted in an alternating current (AC) gliding arc reactor under ambient conditions. The feed composition of the simulated natural gas contained a CH 4 :C 2 H 6 :C 3 H 8 :CO 2 molar ratio of 70:5:5:20. To investigate the effects of all gaseous hydrocarbons and CO 2 present in the natural gas, the plasma reactor was operated with different feed compositions: pure CH 4 , CH 4 /He, CH 4 /C 2 H 6 /He, CH 4 /C 2 H 6 /C 3 H 8 /He and CH 4 /C 2 H 6 /C 3 H 8 /CO 2 . The results showed that the addition of gas components to the feed strongly influenced the reaction performance and the plasma stability. In comparisons among all the studied feed systems, both hydrogen and C 2 hydrocarbon yields were found to depend on the feed gas composition in the following order: CH 4 /C 2 H 6 /C 3 H 8 /CO 2 > CH 4 /C 2 H 6 /C 3 H 8 /He > CH 4 /C 2 H 6 /He > CH 4 /He > CH 4 . The maximum yields of hydrogen and C 2 products of approximately 35% and 42%, respectively, were achieved in the CH 4 /C 2 H 6 /C 3 H 8 /CO 2 feed system. In terms of energy consumption for producing hydrogen, the feed system of the CH 4 /C 2 H 6 / C 3 H 8 /CO 2 mixture required the lowest input energy, in the range of 3.58 · 10 À18 -4.14 · 10 À18 W s (22.35-25.82 eV) per molecule of produced hydrogen.

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