Combination of non-thermal plasma and heterogeneous catalysis for methane and hexadecane co-cracking: Effect of voltage and catalyst configuration

Chemical Engineering Journal, Volume 219, 1 March 2013, Pages 245–253
Combination of non-thermal plasma and heterogeneous catalysis for methane and hexadecane co-cracking: Effect of voltage and catalyst configuration
M.R. Rahimpour (a,b)
A. Jahanmiri (a)
M. Mohamadzadeh Shirazi (a)
N. Hooshmand (a)
H. Taghvaei (a)
a Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz 71345, Iran
b Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616, United States
Abstract
Reports a study of co-cracking of methane and n-hexadecane over Mo–Ni/Al₂O₃ catalyst in a packed bed dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma reactor. Researchers explored the effects of applied voltage and plasma-catalyst configuration in terms of process energy efficiency and product composition. They produced hydrogen and gaseous hydrocarbon as the cracking product. Results reveal that combination of catalyst and plasma improves energy efficiency of hydrocarbons plasma conversion.
The applied voltage has a dominating effect on the catalytic-plasma cracking process. In-plasma catalysis configuration is more efficient compared with post-plasma catalysis. The the highest energy efficiency obtained the value of 194.44 l/kW h for in-plasma configuration under highest applied voltage condition (11 kV). Under these conditions, the production rate and mole percent of hydrogen achieved 107.66 ml/min and 63.7%, respectively.
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