Hydrogen generation from water, methane, and methanol with nonthermal plasma

Hydrogen generation from water, methane, and methanol was investigated with different types of nonthermal plasma reactors under different conditions. With a ferroelectric packed-bed reactor in N-2, hydrogen gas yield decreased in the order: methanol > methane > water. A similar trend was observed with a silent discharge plasma reactor, but H-2 yields were much lower with the latter reactor. At fixed specific energy densities, higher H-2 yields were obtained at higher gas flow rates in the reactions of the above substrates. The initial water concentration was optimized at ca. 2.0% to obtain the highest rate for H-2 formation. Under the same conditions, H-2 yield decreased in the order: Ar > N-2 > air approximate to O-2. The ferroelectric packed-bed reactor could be operated continuously for 10 h without any decrease in its performance in the H-2 generation from water.