Eur. Phys. J. D 54, 179-183 (2009)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2008-00221-1

Application of atmospheric pressure microwave plasma source for production of hydrogen via methane reforming

¹ Centre for Plasma and Laser Engineering, The Szewalski Institute of Fluid-Flow Machinery, Polish Academy of Sciences, Fiszera 14, 80-952 Gdañsk, Poland
² Dept. of Marine Electronics, Gdynia Maritime University, Morska 83, 81-225 Gdynia, Poland

Corresponding author: ^a mdors@imp.gda.pl

Received: 5 September 2008
Revised: 8 October 2008
Published online: 28 November 2008

Abstract

In this paper, results of hydrogen production via methane pyrolysis in the atmospheric pressure microwave plasma with CH₄ swirl are presented. A waveguide-based nozzleless cylinder-type microwave plasma source (MPS) was used to convert methane into hydrogen. The plasma generation was stabilized by a CH₄ swirl having a flow rate of 87.5 L min^-1. The absorbed microwave power was 1.5–5 kW. The hydrogen production rate and the corresponding energy efficiency were 866 g (H₂) h^-1 and 577 g (H₂) kWh^-1 of microwave energy absorbed by the plasma, respectively. These parameters are better than our previous results when nitrogen was used as a swirl gas and much better than those typical for other plasma methods of hydrogen production (electron beam, gliding arc, plasmatron).