Dry reforming of methane by combined spark discharge with a ferroelectric

Abstract

The increasing anthropogenic emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) is causing global warming which is a matter of deep public concern. Dry reforming of methane (DRM) is an attractive means of reducing the emission of GHGs, because it can convert CO2 and CH4 into syngas. Non-thermal plasma has been investigated for use in DRM and the results demonstrate that plasma can convert CO2 and CH4 into syngas at a lower temperature than catalysis, but the specific energy is relatively high. Combining a catalyst with non-thermal plasma in hybrid system can produce various synergistic effects that reduce specific energy. In this work, BaZr0.05Ti0.95O3 (BZT) with a perovskite structure and ferroelectric property is packed into the plasma reactor to form a hybrid system. The syngas generation efficiency of BZT with a spark discharge reactor is investigated. The spark discharge reactor yields 49.4% conversion of CO2 and 79.0% conversion of CH4 and the BZT packed bed reactor yields 79.0% conversion of CO2 and 84.2% conversion of CH4. With respect to energy utilization, the BZT packed bed reactor has an specific energy of 0.218 MJ/mol, which is 18.7% lower than that of the spark discharge reactor without a ferroelectric (0.268 MJ/mol). Characterization of BZT reveals that the presence of BZT increases the charge density in the plasma reactor, favoring CO2 and CH4 dissociation. Also, SEM and XPS results 3 show that BZT is modified with plasma, resulting in a positive synergy between the plasma and the ferroelectric.

Dry Reforming of Methane in a Gliding Arc Plasmatron: Towards a Better Understanding of the Plasma Chemistry

“…In corona discharges, maximum conversionsb etween 10 and 90 %h ave been reached, with energy costs between 4 and 100 eV per molecule. [63] Atmospheric pressure glow discharges also seem to be promising for DRM, with maximum conversionso f3 5-85% and energyc osts of 1-60 eV per molecule. [56] In spark discharges, the minimum energy cost has been reported to be approximately 3-10 eV per molecule for conversionsbetween 10 and 85 %, [63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70] with the best total conversion of 85% with an energy cost of 3.2 eV per molecule.…”

“…[55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62] The bestc ombined result was a conversion of 44 %w ith an energy cost of 5.2 eV per molecule. [56] In spark discharges, the minimum energy cost has been reported to be approximately 3-10 eV per molecule for conversionsbetween 10 and 85 %, [63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70] with the best total conversion of 85% with an energy cost of 3.2 eV per molecule. [63] Atmospheric pressure glow discharges also seem to be promising for DRM, with maximum conversionso f3 5-85% and energyc osts of 1-60 eV per molecule.…”

“…[56] In spark discharges, the minimum energy cost has been reported to be approximately 3-10 eV per molecule for conversionsbetween 10 and 85 %, [63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70] with the best total conversion of 85% with an energy cost of 3.2 eV per molecule. [63] Atmospheric pressure glow discharges also seem to be promising for DRM, with maximum conversionso f3 5-85% and energyc osts of 1-60 eV per molecule. [71][72][73] The best result is a total conversion of 89 %w ith an energy cost of only 1.2 eV per molecule.…”

Optimisation of CH4 and CO2 conversion and selectivity of H2 and CO for the dry reforming of methane by a microwave plasma technique using a Box–Behnken design

“…Plasma, the fourth state of matter, is a partially ionised gas mixture consisting of ions, atoms, electrons, molecules, free radicals, neutral by‐products, and photons . Generally, the plasma process is divided into two main methods: The first is cold plasma (nonthermal plasma) discharge including dielectric barrier discharge, corona discharge, atmospheric pressure glow discharge, gliding arc discharge, microwave discharge, and spark discharge . The second is thermal plasma including direct current, alternating current arc torch, and radio frequency (RF) …”

“…Nitrogen is a diatomic gas; therefore, it is usually used for generating a high‐energy plasma flame through the dissociation and ionization process . However, the discussion about N 2 conversion is rare.…”