Methane conversion to H2 and higher hydrocarbons using non-thermal plasma dielectric barrier discharge reactor

Catalyst-assisted DBD plasma for coupling of methane: Minimizing carbon-deposits by structured reactors

“…Recently, Zhang et al [20] used pulsed DBD plasma for non-oxidative coupling of methane obtaining conversions below 10 % and selectivity to hydrocarbons (C 2 -C 4 ) below 50 %. Saleem and co-workers [14] obtained 37 % methane conversion with a SEI of 3665 kJ/mol CH 4 with rather poor C balances of typically 70 %. Unfortunately, a detailed comparison with these results is not possible because conversion and selectivities depend on the SEI, DBD reactor dimensions and reaction conditions [10,25,26], which differ significantly in all studies.…”

“…In contrast, excitation of rotation and translation of molecules in a DBD is very limited, implying that the temperature of the gas remains close to room temperature [10,11]. Therefore, coupling of methane reaction in absence of oxygen has been studied at mild temperatures [10,[12][13][14]. The plasma-driven reaction can provide high methane conversion depending on the reactor design, the discharge power and the feed composition (pure or diluted methane, or additives like H 2 or H 2 O) [15][16][17][18][19].…”

“…The formation of carbon increases when increasing conversion [14,[24][25][26][27], e.g. by increasing the specific energy input (SEI, power discharge per mol of methane fed) or diluting the methane with an inert gas like Ar, enhancing the methane activation by Penning effect [28].…”

Modelling excited species and their role on kinetic pathways in the non-oxidative coupling of methane by dielectric barrier discharge

“…Plasma discharges can be operated under different conditions of temperature and pressure, at varying degree of deviation from thermal equilibrium. Some non-equilibrium plasmas, like gliding arcs, sparks, nanosecond pulsed discharges (Delikonstantis et al, 2020, Dors et al, 2014, Heijkers et al, 2020, Scapinello et al, 2019 or microwave discharges (Dors et al, 2014, Heijkers et al, 2020, operate at high gas temperature (>800K), while others, like corona (Yang, 2003a) or dielectric barrier discharges (DBD) (Nozaki and Okazaki, 2013, Saleem et al, 2019, Toth et al, 2018, Wang et al, 2013, Xu and Tu, 2013, operate at much lower gas temperature (generally below 500K).…”

Plasma-enhanced catalysis for the upgrading of methane: a review of modelling and simulation methods

“…Since the first applications of plasma discharges to methane in the presence of a catalyst in the late 90's, [1][2][3][4] research focus has primarily been placed either on the upgrading of methane into higher hydrocarbons, [5][6][7][8][9] or its reforming into synthesis gas. [10][11][12][13] Originally, the use of thermal plasmas was dominant, 10,[14][15][16] however the interest in non-thermal plasmas (NTP) has risen substantially with time.…”