Methanol Conversion Into Hydrogen With Dielectric Barrier Discharge Micro-plasma

Renewable energy and resources has received substantial attention recently.Hydrogen is considered as a clear, efficient and ideal renewable energy and resources,because of its high energy density and heat value. Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD)micro-plasma technology has the advantages of both traditional plasma and novelmicro-reactor, such as simple structure, low energy consumption. Therefore, thistechnology provides new ways for hydrogen production. This paper studied hydrogenproduction through methanol decomposition and methanol steam reforming in theDBD micro-plasma reactor. The process parameters and power supply parameterswhich are relative to the hydrogen production are discussed in detail.The best discharge frequency is17.5kHz for methanol decomposition directly.The results show that the conversion of methanol increases with a lower vaporizingchamber temperature, or a higher input power, or the filler with catalytic activity.The process conditions of hydrogen production through methanol steamreforming by vaporizing chamber feedstock are investigated based on orthogonal test.The optimum conditions are: vaporizing chamber temperature is130℃, liquid feedrate is0.002mL/min, carbon-to-steam ratio is1.5, and gas flow rate is20.0mL/min.In the study of hydrogen production through methanol steam reforming in whichthe liquid is fed directly, the hydrogen production efficiency of methanol will increasewith increasing the argon flow rate and the input power, and it will decrease withincreasing the liquid feed rate. The best discharge frequency is18.0kHz.The hydrogen production through methanol steam reforming with synergic ofcatalyst and plasma is studied. Catalyst could promote the conversion of methanol andchange the gas product distribution, the main product changed from H2and CO to H2and CO2. The reaction mechanism of synergic treatment of catalyst and plasma isdifferent from that of catalyst and plasma respectively.The effect of gradient reactor on methanol steam reforming process is discussedin this paper. The results show that with the increase of gradient, the conversion ofmethanol increased from78.74%to90.70%and the yield of hydrogen is improved from22.15%to27.42%. The gradient changed the discharge gap, which is beneficialto the conversion of methanol.