Hydrogen-Rich Syngas Production from Biogas Reforming by Gliding Arc Plasma- Catalyst Minireactor

This research aim was to investigate the production of H2-rich syngas from simulated biogas waste using a developed gliding arc plasma minireactor integrated with nickel-based catalysts. The effect of different catalyst types of NiO/Al2O3, NiO/MS 5A and NiO/ZSM-5 zeolite on overall system performance was investigated. Different support types significantly affected physical and chemical properties of prepared catalyst and had the dominant roles on the biogas plasma reforming in different ways. The integration of NiO/Al2O3 catalysts into gliding arc plasma minireactor gave the remarkable enhancement of H2 product in syngas with high H2 selectivity and H2/CO molar ratio of 63.59% and 2.91, respectively. Using NiO/Al2O3 catalyst in this plasma system lead the synergistic effect on H2 selectivity, as compared the only plasma system. NiO/ZSM-5 catalyst provided the highest CH4 conversion of 19.29% and also gave the minimum consumed energy of system (Ec=6.14x10-18 W·s/molecule of biogas converted and Es=5.52x10-18 W·s/molecule of syngas produced). The gliding arc plasma minireactor of this work performed the biogas reforming better than other low-temperature plasma such as conventional dielectric barrier discharge system

Investigation on plasma-driven methane dry reforming in a self-triggered spark reactor

The performance of methane dry reforming in a self-triggered spark discharge reactor is evaluated in terms of conversion of reagents, yield and selectivity of desired products (syngas), and energy efficiency. The effects of feed gas composition (CO2:CH4 ratio), flow rate and input electrical power were investigated. The process performance is very good: under the best experimental conditions (CO2: CH4 of 1: 1 at 100 mL . min(-1), input power of 20 W) conversion (71% for CH4 and 65% for CO2), selectivity (78% for H-2 and 86% for CO), and energy efficiency (2.3-2.4 mmol . kJ(-1)) are all quite high. The formation of ethane, ethylene, and acetylene was also detected and analyzed as a function of the CO2: CH4 ratio. As the CO2: CH4 ratio is decreased below 1, the conversion of both CH4 and CO2 slightly increases, but the yield in syngas decreases favoring the formation of C-2 hydrocarbons and the appearance of carbon deposits. Increasing the CO2: CH4 ratio from 0.5 to 1.5 has virtually no effect on the reagents conversion and on H-2 production but promotes the formation of CO and reduces that of C-2 hydrocarbons. The best CO2: CH4 was determined to be 1.0 considering also the lowest formation of water as byproduct and the optimal discharge stability