Issue 18, 2024

Can post-plasma CH4 injection improve plasma-based dry reforming of methane? A modeling study

Abstract

Thermal plasma-driven dry reforming of methane (DRM) has gained increased attention in recent years due to its high conversion and energy conversion efficiency (ECE). Recent experimental work investigated the performance of a pure CO2 plasma with post-plasma CH4 injection. The rationale behind this strategy is that by utilizing a pure CO2 plasma, all plasma energy can be used to dissociate CO2, while CH4 reforming proceeds post-plasma in the reforming reactor with residual heat, potentially improving the energy efficiency compared to injecting both CO2 and CH4 into the plasma. To assess whether post-plasma CH4 injection indeed improves the DRM performance, we developed a chemical kinetics model describing the post-plasma conversion process. We first validated our model by reproducing the experimental results of the pure CO2 plasma with post-plasma CH4 injection. Subsequently, we compared both strategies: injecting only CO2 inside the plasma while injecting CH4 post-plasma, vs. classical plasma-based DRM. Our modeling results indicate that below specific energy inputs (SEI) of 220 kJ mol−1, the total conversion slightly improves (ca. 5%) with the first strategy. However, the ECE is slightly lower due to the low H2 selectivity caused by substantial H2O formation. The highest conversion and ECE are obtained at SEI values of 240–280 kJ mol−1, where both strategies yield nearly identical results, indicating the limited potential of improving the performance of DRM by pure CO2 plasma with post-plasma CH4 injection. Nevertheless, the approach is still very valuable to allow higher CH4/CO2 ratios without problems of coke formation within the plasma, and thus, to improve plasma stability and reach higher syngas ratios, which is more useful for further Fischer–Tropsch or methanol synthesis.

Graphical abstract: Can post-plasma CH4 injection improve plasma-based dry reforming of methane? A modeling study

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
14 6 2024
Accepted
23 8 2024
First published
24 8 2024

Green Chem., 2024,26, 9712-9728

Can post-plasma CH4 injection improve plasma-based dry reforming of methane? A modeling study

M. Albrechts, I. Tsonev and A. Bogaerts, Green Chem., 2024, 26, 9712 DOI: 10.1039/D4GC02889A

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