Plasma catalytic methane conversion over sol–gel derived Ru/TiO2 catalyst in a dielectric-barrier discharge reactor

Plasma catalytic methane conversion was carried out in the presence of sol–gel derived Ru/TiO2 catalysts within a dielectric-barrier discharge (DBD) reactor. Plasma-assisted reduction (PAR) was applied to reduce the prepared Ru/TiO2 catalysts in DBD reactor, and most of the catalysts were successively reduced by PAR within 15 min. The highest methane conversion was obtained when 5 wt% Ru/TiO2 catalysts were used after calcination at 400 °C. The selectivities of light alkanes (C2H6, C3H8, C4H10) were highly increased when Ru/TiO2 catalysts were used in DBD reactor.