Reactivity of methane in nonthermal plasma in the presence of oxygen and inert gases at atmospheric pressure

Partial oxidation of methane to methanol and formaldehyde as liquid fuels w ith oxygen diluted with inert gases was investigated experimentally using t he pulsed discharge plasma method under conditions of room temperature and atmospheric pressure. The experimental results indicated that ethylene (C2H 4), ethane (C2H6), methanol (CH3OH), formaldehyde (HCHO), hydrogen (H-2), w ater (H2O), carbon monoxide (CO), and carbon dioxide (CO2) were detected as products and, especially, methanol, formaldehyde, and carbon monoxide were the major products of the plasma chemical reactions. Particularly, it was found that the methanol and formaldehyde production has an optimum specific input energy (SIE: defined as the electrical applied energy per unit volum e). The highest methanol and formaldehyde production ability and selectivit y were achieved with a relatively low SIE of 360 J/L and concentration of A rgon of 50 vol.%. Under this optimum condition, the maximum liquid fuel (me thanol and formaldehyde) production ability of about 0.7 mu mole/J, and sel ectivity of 64 mol%, were obtained.