Mechanism of methane dry reforming using an arc-jet plasma reactor

The characteristics of plasma reaction for dry reforming of methane have been studied using an arc-jet plasma reactor with AC power supply. The effects of the operating parameters, which are input power, CO$_{2}$/CH$_{4}$ ratio, added O$_{2}$ ratio, and the portion of CH$_{4}$+CO$_{2}$ amount in reactants, were investigated by product analysis. As results, the decompositions of CH$_{4}$ and CO$_{2}$ were enhanced by input electrical power. The amount of produced hydrogen was affected by the supplied power and the portion of CH$_{4}$+CO$_{2}$ in the reactants, demonstrating increasing behavior with increasing supplied power and the volume of CH$_{4}$ and CO$_{2}$. For fuel based energy efficiency, the effect of the supplied power was neutral, while the CO$_{2}$/CH$_{4}$ ratio and the portion of CH$_{4}$ +CO$_{2}$ amount gave a positive impact to the efficiency. Moreover, we could get various H$_{2}$/CO ratio ranged 0.8 -- 2.5 by controlling the CO$_{2}$/CH$_{4}$ ratio. Detailed mechanism and characteristics of the dry reforming of methane will be discussed also.