Plasma-Based Dry Reforming: A Computational Study Ranging from the Nanoseconds to Seconds Time Scale

We present a computational study for the conversion of CH₄ and CO₂ into value-added chemicals, i.e., the so-called “dry reforming of methane”, in a dielectric barrier discharge reactor. A zero-dimensional chemical kinetics model is applied to study the plasma chemistry in a 1:1 CH₄/CO₂ mixture. The calculations are first performed for one microdischarge pulse and its afterglow, to study in detail the chemical pathways of the conversion. Subsequently, long time-scale simulations are carried out, corresponding to real residence times in the plasma, assuming a large number of consecutive microdischarge pulses, to mimic the conditions of the filamentary discharge regime in a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor. The conversion of CH₄ and CO₂ as well as the selectivity of the formed products and the energy cost and energy efficiency of the process are calculated and compared to experiments for a range of different powers and gas flows, and reasonable agreement is reached