CO2 reforming of CH4 by combination of cold plasma jet and Ni/γ-Al2O3 catalyst

CO2 reforming of CH4 to synthesis gas was investigated by cold plasma jet (CPJ) only and combination of cold plasma jet with Ni/γ-Al2O3 catalyst at atmospheric pressure. The higher selectivity of H2 and CO, and higher energy efficiency was obtained by this novel process. The optimum experimental conditions are: CH4 = 3.33 Nl/min, CO2 = 5.00 Nl/min, N2 = 8.33 Nl/min, and the input power at 770 W. The results showed that, for the plasma only, the conversions of CH4 and CO2 were 46% and 34%, the selectivities of CO and H2 were 85% and 78%, the energy efficiency was 2.9 mmol/kJ, respectively; for the combination of cold plasma jet with Ni/γ-Al2O3 catalyst, the conversions of CH4 and CO2 were increased by 14% and 6%, the yield of H2 and CO increased by 18% and 11%, the energy efficiency reached at 3.7 mmol/kJ, respectively. And the catalyst hasn't accessorial heating. The CPJ method has the advantage of simple processing and is easy to be industrialized.