Kinetics of the methane decomposition in a dielectric-barrier discharge

Abstract

The effect of residence time on methane conversion, selectivities, and yields of products were studied in this work. Methane conversion was increased with the increase of the residence time. The maximum selectivities of ethane and propane were 29.5% and 14.0%, respectively, and they were the main products of methane conversion. Kinetics of the methane decomposition to C-2, C-3, and C-4 in a dielectric-barrier discharge was studied at atmospheric pressure, and the kinetic model of methane decomposition was proposed. The calculated values of the product distribution from kinetic model were found to be in agreement with the experimental data. From the proposed model, the reaction rate constant k(4) (C2H4 --> C3H8) was the highest.