Plasma Catalytic Methane Conversion over Sol-gel Derived Pt/TiO2 Catalyst in a Dielectric-barrier Discharge Reactor

Plasma catalytic methane conversion was carried out in the presence of sol-gel derived Pt/TiO2 catalysts within a dielectric-barrier discharge (DBD) reactor. Plasma-assisted reduction (PAR) was applied to reduce the prepared Pt/TiO2 catalysts in DBD reactor, and prepared catalysts were successively reduced by PAR within 20 min irrespective of the Pt loading and the calcination temperature. The highest methane conversion was 40% when 3 wt% Pt/TiO2 and 5 wt% Pt/TiO2 catalysts were used after calcination at 600 degrees C. The selectivities of light alkanes (C2H6, C3H8, C4H10) were highly increased when Pt/TiO2 catalysts were used in DBD reactor.