Plasma-catalytic hybrid process for CO2 methanation: optimization of operation parameters

The present study focuses on the hybrid plasma catalytic process for CO2 methanation. This plasma-catalytic process, based on the combination of a DBD plasma and Ni/CeZrO2 catalyst, has several advantages over conventional catalysis: it operates at ambient conditions and requires no external heating. An optimization of the process considering the effect of the different operational parameters such as voltage, GHSV, catalyst mass, flow rate, discharge length, is herein presented. Moreover, a spectroscopic study, aiming to understand the mechanism of the reaction, is also showed. At temperatures around 270 °C and under adiabatic conditions, CO2 conversion rates of about 80% were measured, with a CH4 selectivity greater than 95%.