Methanol-steam Reforming under Non-thermal Plasma for Hydrogen Production

Plasma-catalytic methanol-steam reforming was investigated in the present study. In order to improve the stability and durability of the reforming catalyst, plasma-catalyst hybrid process was used. A tubular quartz reactor with annular-shaped electrodes was used, in which Cu/ZnO catalysts supported on Al2O3 pellets were packed. The electric discharge was generated by sine wave with 2kV at 50 kHz. The methanol conversion at 180 degrees C was 5.7% without the electric discharge. However, the methanol conversion with the electric discharge increased 39.1% as high as that without the electric discharge. We disclosed that the methanol reforming reaction was more improved on the catalyst with electric discharge at low temperature.