Plasma reforming of bio-ethanol for hydrogen rich gas production

Hydrogen production from ethanol by non-thermal arc discharge was investigated in a novel miniaturized plasma reactor. It is observed that ethanol–water mixture was converted into hydrogen, carbon monoxide and other products. The V–I characteristic was recorded by an oscilloscope to study the effect of discharge on the ethanol reforming. In the experiments, ethanol–water mixture entered the reaction chamber through a special gas–liquid spray nozzle for a quick evaporation and a rapid mixing with air at room temperature. Assisted by a Laval nozzle electrode, non-thermal arc plasma can improve the performance of ethanol reforming. It is found that the maximum conversion rate of ethanol was 90.9% at O/C = 1.4, S/C = 1.2 and ethanol flow rate = 0.05 g/s, and the maximum hydrogen yield was 40.9% at O/C = 1.4, S/C = 1.2 and ethanol flow rate = 0.10 g/s. The ethanol reforming process produced little coke and nitrogen oxide which was less than 10 ppm in the supersonic/subsonic plasma working condition.