Abstract
Nowadays, the energy consumption all around the world has rapidly increased, resulting in a decrease in available reserved fuels including natural gas. Natural gas is mainly composed of methane which can be converted into a more valuable product, called synthesis gas (H2 and CO). Commercially for converting methane to synthesis gas, conventional catalytic processes require both high temperature and high pressure, resulting in high energy consumption and catalyst deactivation. Non-thermal plasma is considered to be a promising alternative technology for synthesis gas production because it can be operated in ambient conditions. In this research, the effect of stage number of multistage gliding arc discharge system on the process performance of the combined steam reforming and partial oxidation of simulated natural gas was investigated. The simulated natural gas contained 70 % methane, 10 % ethane, 10 % propane and 20 % carbondioxide, the experiments were carried out to investigate reactant conversions, product selectivities and yields, and power consumptions by varying either residence time and stage number of plasma reactors. Moreover, the optimum conditions for a maximum synthesis gas production were determined. The results show that the increasing stage number from 1 to 3 stages at constant feed flow rate enhanced the reactant conversions, and H2 yield with the reduction of energy consumption. The lowest energy consumption of 3.49×10-17 Ws per molecule of reactants converted or 2.04×10-17 Ws per molecule of hydrogen produced was obtained from 3 stages of plasma reactors at residence time and feed flow rate of 4.11 s and 100 cm3/min, respectively.
