Stainless steel membrane distributor-type dielectric barrier discharge plasma reactor for co-conversion of CH4/CO2

Flow arrangement in a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma reactor is key to affect multi-component gas reactions (e.g., dry reforming of methane). Herein, a stainless-steel membrane distributor-type DBD reactor was developed to allow the change of gas flow arrangements freely to understand their effect on plasma-assisted CH4/CO2 conversion to syngas. Variation of gas flow arrangements in the DBD reactor could regulate the reaction performance. Also, inclusion of packing materials, especially ones with low packing density, in the DBD reactor could enhance the effect of gas flow arrangement compared to the plasma-alone DBD. Specially, the DBD reactor with CO2 feed in the quartz wool packed discharge zone and CH4 distributed via the membrane exhibited a good stability over 300 min on stream, with rather stable CO2/CH4 conversions of ~30%/50%, H2/CO selectivity of ~46%/55%, H2/CO molar ratio of 0.8–1.0, and energy efficiency of 0.25–0.35 mmol·kJ−1.