Loading…

Hydrogen production from alcohol reforming in a microwave 'tornado'-type plasma

In this work, an experimental investigation of microwave plasma-assisted reforming of different alcohols is presented. A microwave (2.45 GHz) 'tornado'-type plasma with a high-speed tangential gas injection (swirl) at atmospheric pressure is applied to decompose alcohol molecules, namely m...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Plasma sources science & technology 2013-12, Vol.22 (6), p.65001-9
Main Authors: Tatarova, E, Bundaleska, N, Dias, F M, Tsyganov, D, Saavedra, R, Ferreira, C M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In this work, an experimental investigation of microwave plasma-assisted reforming of different alcohols is presented. A microwave (2.45 GHz) 'tornado'-type plasma with a high-speed tangential gas injection (swirl) at atmospheric pressure is applied to decompose alcohol molecules, namely methanol, ethanol and propanol, and to produce hydrogen-rich gas. The reforming efficiency is investigated both in Ar and Ar+ water vapor plasma environments. The hydrogen yield dependence on the partial alcohol flux is analyzed. Mass spectrometry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy are used to detect the outlet gas products from the decomposition process. Hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and solid carbon are the main decomposition by-products. A significant increase in the hydrogen production rate is observed with the addition of a small amount of water. Furthermore, optical emission spectroscopy is applied to detect the radiation emitted by the plasma and to estimate the gas temperature and electron density.
ISSN:0963-0252
1361-6595
DOI:10.1088/0963-0252/22/6/065001