Plasma enhanced C1-chemistry: towards greener methane conversion

• Main Authors: Nozaki Tomohiro, Okazaki Ken
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: De Gruyter 2012-12-01
• Series: Green Processing and Synthesis
• Subjects: c1-chemistry; microchemical reactor; nonthermal plasma; plasma catalysis; process intensification
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1515/gps-2012-0074

Direct conversion of methane to methanol is considered as a promising next-generation green technology, because it would eliminate energy intense, high temperature syngas production. Before 2000, various catalysts and thermochemical reaction systems were investigated towards converting direct methane to methanol; however, one-pass yield of methanol was <5%. More recently, bioreaction and photochemical synthesis have attracted keen attention, because these processes use renewable solar energy. However, the yield and productivity are still the main issues. This paper presents a low temperature (<600 K), direct conversion of methane to methanol/syngas via non-thermal plasma technology, which enables one-pass liquid yield of 20% (sum of CH3OH, HCHO and HCOOH), with selectivity between 40 and 60%. First, it emphasizes the impact of plasma catalysis in the future sustainable energy system. Second, the principle of micro-channel plasma chemical reactor is presented, then experimental results are overviewed based on our work. Finally, concluding remarks are provided.