(753f) Modular Plate Cold DBD Plasma Reactors for Dry Methane Reforming

Conversion of stranded natural gas resources into a hydrocarbon stream is of critical importance for distributed manufacturing. Conventionally, syngas is synthesized from methane via high temperature processes which require high capital investment. In this work, a modular dielectric discharge barrier plasma reactor was devised and tested to perform methane dry reforming with CO2 to yield syngas at atmospheric pressure and ambient temperature. Deposition methods were devised to obtain a thin film catalyst to achieve more than 95 % single pass methane conversion and better than 50% CO2 conversion at circumroom temperatures. Series of catalysts, including Ni-Al2O3 as well as high dielectric constant non-conventional inorganic compounds were explored and optimal conversion conditions were identified. CO2 generated plasma was also shown to achieve stable catalyst performance via Boudouard reaction.