H2 yielding rate comparison in a warm plasma reactor and thermal cracking furnace

Abstract Climate change increases the odds of worsening drought and generating extreme weather events, being the poorest nations the most vulnerable. The emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) from anthropogenic activities have a considerable impact on climate change; in particular, the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) has the weightiest and most aggressive impact on the Earth. An emergent solution is to convert those specific gases into syngas (CO + H2) by using plasma technology; which offers reduced specific energy, and it is capable to produce very energetic species with instantaneous sequential chemical reactions. This work aims to validate the production of syngas comprising acetylene (C2H2) from the treatment of Biogas samples and a mixture composed of CH4, CO2, and N2 using warm plasma reactors. Specific energy (SE) and Energy Conversion Efficiency (ECE) were obtained in the function of experimental settings, showing the potential of the warm plasma technology on GHG treatment. Additionally, a comparison between warm plasma and thermal cracking processes has shown that H2 is generated more than 200 times faster and in a bigger quantity (more than 8 times) in a warm plasma than for conventional heating process.