Efficient use of CO₂ reforming of methane with an arc-jet plasma

Carbon dioxide reforming of methane has drawn the attention of many researchers for years, because of both its theoretical yield of hydrogen to carbon monoxide, i.e., H₂CO = 1, and the use of greenhouse gas CO₂. Although catalytic processes have been widely investigated, plasma-based techniques were recently considered, because catalytic processes have problems, such as coking and slow start-up time. However, since there is a lack of concrete information about plasma-induced processes, we systematically tested a dry reforming of methane by using an arc-jet plasma reactor. The effects of supplied power for plasma generation, CO₂ CH₄ ratio, O₂ addition, and the amount of CH₄} + CO ₂ in the reactant were experimentally investigated in nitrogen balance. As a result, the H₂CO ratio of a product can be controlled in the range of 0.82.5, and the direction for efficient use of the dry reforming process was proposed. Detailed mechanism and characteristics of the dry reforming of methane were also discussed.