Low Temperature Plasma Reforming of Hydrocarbon Fuels Into Hydrogen and Carbon Suboxide for Energy Generation Without $\hbox{CO}_{2}$ Emission

Abstract

An alternative process of extracting energy from fossil fuels (coal, biomass, hydrocarbons, etc.) without the emission of CO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> is possible with nonequilibrium plasma. Apart from CO and CO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> , there exists carbon suboxide (C <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> )-a solid carbon oxide, which can be polymerized to form chemically and thermodynamically stable substances. This article describes a novel process of extracting the energy from fossil fuels without the emission of CO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> while producing hydrogen and carbon suboxide (a reddish, brown polymer), an important constituent of organic fertilizers. This approach has the capability of avoiding drawbacks associated with combustion of fossil fuels, such as CO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> emission. The conversion processes of a hydrocarbon feedstock (n-butane) and characterization of the byproduct of the conversion process with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy are discussed. Thermodynamic calculation of energy efficiencies of conversion of readily available hydrocarbon feedstocks such as biomass, natural gas, and low quality coal (lignite and peat) into hydrogen and carbon suboxide is also discussed. Thermodynamic results calculated show energy efficiency of up to 78% for producing carbon suboxide from various hydrocarbon feedstocks when compared to energy efficiency of producing syngas (100%).