Stainless steel membrane distributor-type dielectric barrier discharge plasma reactor for co-conversion of CH₄/CO₂

Flow arrangement in a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma reactor is key to affecting multi-component gas reactions. Herein, a stainless-steel membrane distributor-type DBD reactor was developed to allow the change of gas flow arrangements freely to understand their effect on plasma-assisted CH₄/CO₂ co-conversion to syngas. Variation of gas flow arrangements in the DBD reactor could regulate the reaction performance. Also, the inclusion of quartz wool in the DBD reactor could enhance the effect of gas flow arrangement compared to the plasma-alone DBD. Especially, the DBD reactor with CO₂ feed in the quartz wool-packed discharge zone and CH₄ distributed via the membrane exhibited good stability over 600 min on stream, with rather stable CO₂/CH₄ conversions of ~25%/20%, H₂/CO selectivities of ~50%/32%, H₂/CO molar ratio of 0.9–1.1, and energy efficiency of ~0.20 mmol·kJ⁻¹ based on the conversion of feed gases.