Hydrogen generation from water, methane, and methanol with nonthermal plasma

Abstract

Hydrogen generation from water, methane, and methanol was investigated with different types of nonthermal plasma reactors under different conditions. With a ferroelectric packed-bed reactor in N/sub 2/, hydrogen gas yield decreased in the order: methanol > methane > water. A similar trend was observed with a silent discharge plasma reactor, but H/sub 2/ yields were much lower with the latter reactor. At fixed specific energy densities, higher H/sub 2/ yields were obtained at higher gas flow rates in the reactions of the above substrates. The initial water concentration was optimized at ca. 2.0% to obtain the highest rate for H/sub 2/ formation. Under the same conditions, H/sub 2/ yield decreased in the order: Ar>N/sub 2/>air/spl ap/O/sub 2/. The ferroelectric packed-bed reactor could be operated continuously for 10 h without any decrease in its performance in the H/sub 2/ generation from water.