The negative impact of conventional fuels on the environment forces us to search for alternative energy sources. One of them is hydrogen. The only product of its combustion is water; however, transportation and storage are the problems. A solution could be ammonia which has a chemical hydrogen storage capacity as high as 17.8 wt%. NH3 as chemical energy storage can be used only if an efficient, rapid, and inexpensive method for its decomposition is known. Herein, the aim is to investigate the effect of gliding discharge plasma on the ammonia decomposition reaction. The novelty of this research is the use of high flow rates and high ammonia concentrations at the same time. The lowest energy consumption and the highest reaction rates of ammonia decomposition are obtained by using undiluted ammonia.

Materials used for medical applications (e.g., the cellular scaffold) should have not only the specific chemical composition, but the surface layer properties as well. For this reason, a method which enables an increase in the number of pores, wettability of the surface, and improvement the conditions of nutrient transportation into the membrane is being studied. The plasma of a dielectric barrier discharge was applied for the surface modification of polylactide obtained by dry or wet phase inversion. The plasma-modified surface was analyzed by contact angle measurements with water and diiodomethane. The surface free energy (SFE) was calculated by the Owens–Wendt method. The highest SFE and its polar component (67.6 mJ/m2 and 39.5 mJ/m2, respectively) were received when the process was conducted in an Ar + CO2 gas mixture with a discharge power of 20 W. The purpose of this research was to increase the wettability and porosity of the membrane’s surface. It can be concluded that the dielectric barrier discharge can effectively change the surface of the polylactide membranes, and that the structure of the modified membranes was not damaged during modification. The process of modification was easier for the membranes made by dry phase inversion. These materials had higher SFE values after the modification.

Biomass can be considered a renewable energy source. It undergoes a gasification process to obtain gaseous fuel, which converts it into combustible gaseous products such as hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and methane. The process also generates undesirable tars that can condense in gas lines and cause corrosion, and after processing, can be an additional source of combustible gases. This study focused on the processing of tar substances with toluene as a model substance. The effect of discharge power and carrier gas composition on toluene conversion was tested. The process was conducted in a plasma-catalytic system with a new Ni3Al system in the form of a honeycomb. The toluene conversion reached 90%, and small amounts of ethane, ethylene, acetylene, benzene, and C3 and C4 hydrocarbons were detected in the post-reaction mixture. Changes in the surface composition of the Ni3Al catalyst were observed throughout the experiments. These changes did not affect the toluene conversion.

The limited resources of conventional fuels and their negative impact on the environment require scientists to search for alternative energy sources. One of the promising renewable sources of energy is biomass. The energy stored in biomass can be used in various ways. It can be combusted, gasified, or fermented, which leads to obtaining biogas. The main components of biogas are carbon dioxide and methane. The aim of this study was to convert in plasma and plasma–catalytic systems low methane biogas into a hydrogen and carbon monoxide mixture, which will allow for a wider range of potential applications. The combustible gas content increased in both systems. The effect of the water vapor content was investigated. It affects the conversion of CH 4 and CO 2 and significantly reduces soot formation (calculated by the carbon balance). It was possible to increase the content of flammable gases by about 20%. The highest molar fraction, 0.16, of hydrogen was obtained with the reduced cobalt catalyst.