DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Characterization of plasma catalytic decomposition of methane: role of atomic O and reaction mechanism

Journal Article · · Journal of Physics. D, Applied Physics

In this work, we investigated atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ)-assisted methane oxidation over a Ni-SiO2/Al2O3 catalyst. We evaluated possible reaction mechanisms by analyzing the correlation of gas phase, surface and plasma-produced species. Plasma feed gas compositions, plasma powers, and catalyst temperatures were varied to expand the experimental parameters. Real-time Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy was applied to quantify gas phase species from the reactions. The reactive incident fluxes generated by plasma were measured by molecular beam mass spectroscopy using an identical APPJ operating at the same conditions. A strong correlation of the quantified fluxes of plasma-produced atomic oxygen with that of CH4 consumption, and CO and CO2 formation implies that O atoms play an essential role in CH4 oxidation for the investigated conditions. With the integration of APPJ, the apparent activation energy was lowered and a synergistic effect of 30% was observed. We also performed in-situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier-transform spectroscopy to analyze the catalyst surface. The surface analysis showed that surface CO abundance mirrored the surface coverage of CHn at 25 °C. This suggests that CHn adsorbed on the catalyst surface as an intermediate species that was subsequently transformed into surface CO. We observed very little surface CHn absorbance at 500 °C, while a ten-fold increase of surface CO and stronger CO2 absorption were seen. This indicates that for a nickel catalyst at 500 °C, the dissociation of CH4 to CHn may be the rate-determining step in the plasma-assisted CH4 oxidation for our conditions. We also found the CO vibrational frequency changes from 2143 cm–1 for gas phase CO to 2196 cm–1 for CO on a 25 °C catalyst surface, whereas the frequency of CO on a 500 °C catalyst was 2188 cm–1. Here, the change in CO vibrational frequency may be related to the oxidation of the catalyst.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0020232
OSTI ID:
1860253
Journal Information:
Journal of Physics. D, Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Physics. D, Applied Physics Journal Issue: 15 Vol. 55; ISSN 0022-3727
Publisher:
IOP PublishingCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (70)

Origin of the High CO Oxidation Activity on CeO 2 Supported Pt Nanoparticles: Weaker Binding of CO or Facile Oxygen Transfer from the Support? journal March 2020
Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasma VUV Interactions With Surfaces: Effect of Local Gas Environment and Source Design: Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasma VUV Interactions… journal August 2016
LXCat: an Open-Access, Web-Based Platform for Data Needed for Modeling Low Temperature Plasmas: LXCat: an Open-Access, Web-Based Platform for… journal September 2016
Dynamic probing of plasma-catalytic surface processes: Oxidation of toluene on CeO 2 journal February 2017
Absolute spatially and time‐resolved O, O 3 , and air densities in the effluent of a modulated RF‐driven atmospheric pressure plasma jet obtained by molecular beam mass spectrometry journal December 2019
Mechanistic Study of Partial Oxidation of Methane to Synthesis Gas over Modified Ru/TiO2 Catalyst journal October 2001
Infrared studies of low temperature adsorption of oxygen on NiO surface journal June 1979
Operando DRIFT Spectroscopy Characterization of Intermediate Species on Catalysts Surface in VOC Removal from Air by Non-thermal Plasma Assisted Catalysis journal May 2016
Partial oxidation of methane to carbon monoxide and hydrogen over a Ni/Al2O3 catalyst journal November 1991
An investigation of the high-frequency form of carbon monoxide chemisorbed on nickel oxide journal April 1973
Infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy of adsorbed molecules journal January 1983
Partial oxidation of methane to carbon monoxide and hydrogen over NiO/La2O3/γ-Al2O3 catalyst journal January 1996
Temperature-programmed FT-IR study of the adsorption of CO and co-adsorption of CO and H2 on NiAl2O3 journal August 1996
A RAIRS and TPD investigation of the adsorption of CO on Pt{211} journal March 2003
In situ IR studies on the mechanism of methane oxidation over Pd/Al2O3 and Pd/Co3O4 catalysts journal November 2003
IR study of polycrystalline ceria properties in oxidised and reduced states journal April 1999
New Pd/CexZr1−xO2/Al2O3 three-way catalysts prepared by microemulsion journal April 2001
Combination of non-thermal plasma and heterogeneous catalysis for oxidation of volatile organic compounds Part 1. Accessibility of the intra-particle volume journal September 2002
Mechanistic investigations on the partial oxidation of methane to synthesis gas over a nickel-on-alumina catalyst journal November 1998
DRIFTS Study on Adsorption and Activation of CH4 and CO2 over Ni/SiO2 Catalyst with Various Ni Particle Sizes journal January 2007
Investigation of the behaviour of a Pd/γ-Al2O3 catalyst during methane combustion reaction using in situ DRIFT spectroscopy journal October 2005
Oxygen partial pressure-dependent behavior of various catalysts for the total oxidation of VOCs using cycled system of adsorption and oxygen plasma journal March 2008
Synergetic effects of plasma and metal oxide catalysts on diesel soot oxidation journal March 2016
Dissociation of vibrationally excited methane on Ni catalyst journal February 2004
High-efficiency non-thermal plasma-catalysis of cobalt incorporated mesoporous MCM-41 for toluene removal journal March 2017
Catalytic partial oxidation (CPOX) of natural gas and renewable hydrocarbons/oxygenated hydrocarbons—A review journal November 2019
Effects of O2/CH4 ratio on methane catalytic combustion over Cu/γ-Al2O3 particles journal October 2016
Hydrogen production from partial oxidation of methane over dielectric barrier discharge plasma and NiO/γ-Al2O3 catalyst journal August 2017
Quantitative analysis of the reactivity of formate species seen by DRIFTS over a Au/Ce(La)O2 water–gas shift catalyst: First unambiguous evidence of the minority role of formates as reaction intermediates journal April 2007
CO2 reforming with methane for syngas production using a dielectric barrier discharge plasma coupled with Ni/γ-Al2O3 catalysts: Process optimization through response surface methodology journal October 2017
Removal of cyclohexane as a toxic pollutant from air using a non-thermal plasma: Influence of different parameters journal February 2021
The HITRAN2012 molecular spectroscopic database journal November 2013
Synthesis of monodisperse gold nanoparticles in ionic liquid by applying room temperature plasma journal January 2011
Quantitative Analysis of Adsorbate Concentrations by Diffuse Reflectance FT-IR journal May 2007
Plasma Catalysis: Synergistic Effects at the Nanoscale journal November 2015
Ammonia Synthesis on Wool-Like Au, Pt, Pd, Ag, or Cu Electrode Catalysts in Nonthermal Atmospheric-Pressure Plasma of N 2 and H 2 journal September 2017
Multiple Transient Response Methods To Identify Mechanisms of Heterogeneous Catalytic Reactions journal August 2003
Probing a Non-Thermal Plasma Activated Heterogeneously Catalyzed Reaction Using in Situ DRIFTS-MS journal January 2015
Kinetic Analysis of the Catalyst and Nonthermal Plasma Hybrid Reaction for Methane Steam Reforming journal July 2007
A Catalytic Reaction Mechanism for Methane Partial Oxidation at Short Contact Times, Reforming, and Combustion, and for Oxygenate Decomposition and Oxidation on Platinum journal August 2007
Reassignment of the Vibrational Spectra of Carbonates, Formates, and Related Surface Species on Ceria: A Combined Density Functional and Infrared Spectroscopy Investigation journal November 2011
Broadened Pulse-Step Change−Isotopic Sharp Pulse Analysis of the Mechanism of Methane Partial Oxidation to Synthesis Gas journal January 1998
Isotopic GCMS Study of the Mechanism of Methane Partial Oxidation To Synthesis Gas journal December 1998
Co-ordination chemistry of palladium cations in Pd-H-ZSM-5 as revealed by FTIR spectra of adsorbed and co-adsorbed probe molecules (CO and NO) journal January 2004
Remarkable catalysis of a wool-like copper electrode for NH 3 synthesis from N 2 and H 2 in non-thermal atmospheric plasma journal January 2016
A design of a fixed bed plasma DRIFTS cell for studying the NTP-assisted heterogeneously catalysed reactions journal January 2020
The catalytic oxidation of methane to carbon monoxide and hydrogen journal January 1946
Dissociation of methane by electron impact journal October 1975
Electron properties and air mixing in radio frequency driven argon plasma jets at atmospheric pressure journal August 2013
Spatially resolved ozone densities and gas temperatures in a time modulated RF driven atmospheric pressure plasma jet: an analysis of the production and destruction mechanisms journal May 2013
Plasma–catalysis: the known knowns, the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns journal May 2016
Solving the Boltzmann equation to obtain electron transport coefficients and rate coefficients for fluid models journal October 2005
Power dissipation, gas temperatures and electron densities of cold atmospheric pressure helium and argon RF plasma jets journal November 2011
Temporally resolved ozone distribution of a time modulated RF atmospheric pressure argon plasma jet: flow, chemical reaction, and transient vortex journal July 2015
Influence of Additive Gas on Electrical and Optical Characteristics of Non-equilibrium Atmospheric Pressure Argon Plasma Jet journal October 2011
Model polymer etching and surface modification by a time modulated RF plasma jet: role of atomic oxygen and water vapor journal December 2016
Dry reforming of methane via plasma-catalysis: influence of the catalyst nature supported on alumina in a packed-bed DBD configuration journal May 2018
Infrared studies of gas phase and surface processes of the enhancement of catalytic methane decomposition by low temperature plasma journal March 2019
Mechanistic aspects of plasma-enhanced catalytic methane decomposition by time-resolved operando diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy journal March 2020
Spatially resolved absolute densities of reactive species and positive ion flux in He-O 2 RF-driven atmospheric pressure plasma jet: touching and non-touching with dielectric substrate journal May 2020
Absolute ion density measurements in the afterglow of a radiofrequency atmospheric pressure plasma jet journal January 2021
From thermal catalysis to plasma catalysis: a review of surface processes and their characterizations journal March 2021
Tuning plasma parameters to control reactive species fluxes to substrates in the context of plasma catalysis journal March 2021
Investigation of Ni catalyst activation during plasma-assisted methane oxidation journal January 2022
Spatially resolved density measurements of singlet delta oxygen in a non-equilibrium atmospheric pressure plasma jet by molecular beam mass spectrometry journal April 2020
Numerical analysis of the NO and O generation mechanism in a needle-type plasma jet journal June 2014
Influence of the Plasma Power Supply Nature on the Plasma–Catalyst Synergism for the Carbon Dioxide Reforming of Methane journal December 2009
Interaction of long-lived reactive species from cold atmospheric pressure plasma with polymers: Chemical modification by ozone and reactive oxygen-nitrogen species journal September 2019
O · , H · , and · OH radical etching probability of polystyrene obtained for a radio frequency driven atmospheric pressure plasma jet journal May 2020
Plasma catalysis: A solution for environmental problems journal April 2010