Orientating the plasma-catalytic conversion of CO2 and CH4 toward liquid products by using a composite catalytic bed.

This work aims to bring a potential solution for improving the synthesis of liquid organic products directly from CO 2 and CH 4 by plasma catalysis under ambient conditions in terms of yield and selectivity. To do that, a composite-catalytic bed is set up in a dielectric barrier discharge reactor where iron, cobalt, SiO 2, and HZSM-5 are associated through three different configurations. The results reveal that a cobalt-based mixed granular configuration exhibits excellent potential for synthesizing long-chain products (up to C8), while iron-based catalysts produce preferentially short-chain oxygenates: acetic acid (∼26%) or methanol (∼24%), with low energy cost depending on the ratio of reactants and the configuration. This work ultimately shows that the use of a composite-catalytic bed submitted to non-equilibrium electric discharges can offer new perspectives of improvement for directly synthesizing liquid products from CO 2 and CH 4 while manipulating the distribution of the products. [Display omitted] • A composite catalytic bed composed of Fe, Co/SiO 2 , and HZSM-5 is used for plasma-catalytic conversion of CO 2 /CH 4. • Three different configurations are tested in a DBD-type reactor. • Considerable conversion and selectivity can be achieved. • Long-chain organic molecules up to C8 can be synthesized. • The work demonstrates the possibility of manipulating the product distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]