Dissociation of carbon dioxide in an Al/Al2O3 microchannel plasma reactor at atmospheric pressure

The dissociation of CO2, using a microcavity plasma in an Al/Al2O3 reactor flowing pure CO2 is achieved with a maximum energy efficiency of 12.4%. This figure corresponds to a maximum dissociation rate of ~70 g/kWh. Additionally, optical emission spectra in UV and visible regions show the evidence of CO2 dissociation. This thesis compares favorably to other methods, even those operating at sub-atmospheric pressures, and is achieved here at atmospheric and even superatmospheric pressures. This is important because not only is CO2 problematic in terms of its environmental impact, but the primary product of dissociation, CO, is used as a reducer gas in the production of industrially valuable chemicals such as methanol and formic acid