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The purpose of this paper was to investigate the reforming characteristics and optimum operating conditions of the plasmatron-assisted CH4-reforming reaction for the hydrogen-rich gas production. In addition, to increase the hydrogen production and methane conversion rate, parametric screening studies were conducted, in which there were the variations of the CH4 flow ratio, CO2 flow ratio, steam flow ratio, and catalyst addition in the reactor. A high-temperature plasma flame was generated by air and arc discharge. The air flow rate and input electric power were fixed at 5.1 L/min and 6.4 kW, respectively. When the CH4 flow ratio is 38.5%, the production of hydrogen was maximized and the optimal methane conversion rate was 99.2%. Under these optimal conditions, the following syngas concentrations were determined: H2, 45.4%; CO, 6.9%; CO2, 1.5%; and C2H2, 1.1%. The H2/CO ratio was 6.6; the hydrogen yield was 78.8%; and reformer thermal efficiency was 63.6%.

Pyrolysis/gasification technology utilizes an energy conversion technique from various waste resources, such as biomass, solid waste, sewage sludge, and etc. to generating a syngas (synthesis gas). However, one of the major problems for the pyrolysis gasification is the presence of tar in the product gas. The tar produced might cause damages and operating problems on the facility. In this study, a gliding arc plasma reformer was developed to solve the previously acknowledged issues. An experiment was conducted using surrogate benzene and naphthalene, which are generated during the pyrolysis and/or gasification, as the representative tar substance. To identify the characteristics of the influential parameters of tar decomposition, tests were performed on the steam feed amount (steam/carbon ratio), input discharge power (specific energy input, SEI), total feed gas amount and the input tar concentration. In benzene, the optimal operating conditions of the gliding arc plasma 2 in steam to carbon (S/C) ratio, 0.98 kWh/m 3 in SEI, 14 L/min in total gas feed rate and 3.6% in benzene concentration. In naphthalene, 2.5 in S/C ratio, 1 kWh/m 3 in SEI, 18.4 L/min in total gas feed rate and 1% in naphthalene concentration. The benzene decomposition efficiency was 95%, and the energy efficiency was 120 g/kWh. The naphthalene decomposition efficiency was 79%, and the energy yield was 68 g/kWh.

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