Publication
Title
Plasma activation of methane for hydrogen production in a rotating gliding arc warm plasma : a chemical kinetics study
Author
Abstract
In this work, a chemical kinetics study on methane activation for hydrogen production in a warm plasma, i.e., N-2 rotating gliding arc (RGA), was performed for the first time to get new insights into the underlying reaction mechanisms and pathways. A zero-dimensional chemical kinetics model was developed, which showed a good agreement with the experimental results in terms of the conversion of CH4 and product selectivities, allowing us to get a better understanding of the relative significance of various important species and their related reactions to the formation and loss of CH4, H-2, and C2H2 etc. An overall reaction scheme was obtained to provide a realistic picture of the plasma chemistry. The results reveal that the electrons and excited nitrogen species (mainly N-2(A)) play a dominant role in the initial dissociation of CH4. However, the H atom induced reaction CH4+ H -> CH3+ H-2, which has an enhanced reaction rate due to the high gas temperature (over 1200 K), is the major contributor to both the conversion of CH4 and H-2 production, with its relative contributions of > 90% and > 85%, respectively, when only considering the forward reactions. The coexistence and interaction of thermochemical and plasma chemical processes in the rotating gliding arc warm plasma significantly enhance the process performance. The formation of C-2 hydrocarbons follows a nearly one-way path of C2H6 -> C2H4 -> C2H2, explaining why the selectivities of C-2 products decreased in the order of C2H2 > C2H4 > C2H6.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Chemical engineering journal. - Lausanne, 1996, currens
Publication
Lausanne : Elsevier Sequoia , 2018
ISSN
1385-8947 [print]
1873-3212 [online]
DOI
10.1016/J.CEJ.2018.03.123
Volume/pages
345 (2018) , p. 67-78
ISI
000430696500008
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
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UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 12.06.2018
Last edited 02.10.2024
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