DBD Plasma-ZrO2 Catalytic Decomposition of CO2 at Low Temperatures

Abstract

This study describes the decomposition of CO 2 using Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) plasma technology combined with the packing materials. A self-cooling coaxial cylinder DBD reactor that packed ZrO 2 pellets or glass beads with a grain size of 1-2 mm was designed to decompose CO 2 . The control of the temperature of the reactor was achieved via passing the condensate water through the shell of the DBD reactor. Key factors, for instance discharge length, packing materials, beads size and discharge power, were investigated to evaluate the efficiency of CO 2 decomposition. The results indicated that packing materials exhibited a prominent effect on CO 2 decomposition, especially in the presence of ZrO 2 pellets. Most encouragingly, a maximum decomposition rate of 49.1% (2-mm particle sizes) and 52.1% (1-mm particle sizes) was obtained with packing ZrO 2 pellets and a 32.3% (2-mm particle sizes) and a 33.5% (1-mm particle sizes) decomposing rate with packing glass beads. In the meantime, CO selectivity was up to 95%. Furthermore, the energy efficiency was increased from 3.3%-7% before and after packing ZrO 2 pellets into the DBD reactor. It was concluded that the packing ZrO 2 simultaneously increases the key values, decomposition rate and energy efficiency, by a factor of two, which makes it very promising. The improved decomposition rate and energy efficiency can be attributed mainly to the stronger electric field and electron energy and the lower reaction temperature. direct decomposition of CO 2 into CO has also attracted great interest, which can not only relieve the pressure of economic growth, but also can achieve energy savings and emission reduction [4,5]. As a common feedstock for industry, CO is a widely-used chemical feedstock that can be used as a reactant to produce higher energy products. Not only can it be used for fuel synthesis, but also for the production of chemicals, such as organic acids, esters and other chemicals. Thus, the selective decomposition of CO 2 into CO is no doubt a promising candidate for clean energy and chemicals. However, due to the high structural stability of the CO 2 molecule, considerable energy is needed for CO 2 activation and decomposition. The conventional thermal-chemical process for CO 2 decomposition has many different levels of limited scope. For example, the thermodynamic equilibrium calculation of CO 2 conversion shows that CO 2 begins to split into CO and O 2 near 2000 K, yet with a very low conversion rate (<1%). The decomposition of CO 2 can only be carried out at an extraordinarily high temperature (3000-3500 K), which consumes high energy and involves considerable economic cost [6]. Nowadays, Non-Thermal Plasma (NTP) is a newly-developed technology, as an attractive alternative, which has been successfully applied in many fields, for instance gas purification and energy conversion [7][8][9][10][11][12]. It has advantages such as a non-equilibrium character, a low energy cost and a unique ability to initiate chemical reactions at low temperatures [13,14]. ...

Seed-packed dielectric barrier device for plasma agriculture: Understanding its electrical properties through an equivalent electrical model

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The Equivalent Circuit Approach for the Electrical Diagnostics of Dielectric Barrier Discharges: The Classical Theory and Recent Developments

“…The non-thermal plasma produces highly-reactive species without an extensive heating of the gas. The application of non-thermal plasma generated by DBDs is of continuous interest for and permanently expanded to new technological areas such as conversion of carbon dioxide [2] or removal of odors [3]. DBD can also initiate very specific chemical processes, which are hardly accessible by other technologies, like ozone generation [4] or polymerization of D-ribose [5].…”

A Facile Method for Preparing UiO-66 Encapsulated Ru Catalyst and its Application in Plasma-Assisted CO2 Methanation

“…The CO 2 methanation has great prospects in economic and environmental applications since most of the fuel resources and one-carbon molecules (C1) can be regenerated from CO 2 [27,28]. The emerging plasma-assisted activation of CO 2 for methanation can provide the high energy for CO 2 decomposition and overcome the relatively harsh conditions and reaction devices required for conventional thermochemical conversion [29,30,31,32,33]. Ru-based catalysts, due to their efficient activity, have been applied in CO 2 methanation extensively.…”