Production of Hydrogen-Rich Gas from Methane by Thermal Plasma Reform

Abstract

This study investigated the reforming characteristics and optimum operating condition of the high-temperature plasma torch (so called plasmatron) for hydrogen-rich gas (syngas) production. At the optimum condition, the composition of produced syngas was 45.4% hydrogen (H 2 ), 6.9% carbon monoxide (CO), 1.5% carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), and 1.1% acetylene (C 2 H 2 ). The H 2 /CO ratio was 6.6, hydrogen yield was 78.8%, and the energy conversion rate was 63.6%. To obtain the optimum operating condition, parametric studies were carried out examining the effects of O 2 /CH 4 ratio, steam/CH 4 ratio, and Ni catalyst addition in reactor. When the steam/CH 4 ratio was 1.23, the production of hydrogen was maximized and the methane conversion rate was 99.7%. The syngas composition was determined to be 50.4% H 2 , 5.7% CO, 13.8% CO 2 , and 1.1% C 2 H 2 . The H 2 /CO ratio was 9.7, hydrogen yield was 93.7%, and the energy conversion rate was 78.8%. Hydrogen production with catalyst was effective, compared with no catalyst.

Plasma assisted decomposition and reforming of greenhouse gases: A review of current status and emerging trends

“…The lack of carbon deposition is another major advantage of this method. Chun et al [188] converted CH4 and CO2 into syngas using atmospheric pressure microwave plasma torch at 6 kW input power and 30 slpm of total gas flow rate. The CH4/CO2 mole ratio was kept at 1:1 throughout the experiment.…”