Partial Oxidation of Methane to Methanol with Oxygen or Air in a Nonequilibrium Discharge Plasma

The partial oxidation of methane to methanol with oxygen or air was investigated experimentally and theoretically in a dielectric-barrier discharge (DBD). The predominant parameters of specific electric energy, oxygen content, flow rate, temperature, and gas pressure were determined in CH ₄ /O ₂ and CH ₄ /air mixtures. Optimum selectivities toward methanol formation were found at an oxygen concentration of about 15% in both feed gas mixtures. Low specific energy favors the selectivity toward methanol and suppresses the formation of carbon oxides. The experiments indicate that high methanol selectivities can be obtained at high methane conversion. The highest methanol yield of 3% and the highest methanol selectivity of about 30% were achieved in CH ₄ /O ₂ mixtures. In CH ₄ /air mixtures, as high as 2% methanol yield was also obtained. In addition, other useful products, like ethylene, ethane, propane, and ethanol, were detected. Experiment and numerical simulations show that the formation of H ₂ O and CO has a strong negative influence on methanol formation.