We reported in this work a simple, effective, and efficient hydrogen production from plasma methanol decomposition using DC and AC corona discharges at ambient condition. The highest hydrogen production rate was achieved with AC corona discharges. The power consumption was normally less than 0.02 Wh/Ncm3 H2. A major advantage of methanol decomposition using corona discharge is that only a very small discharge space is enough for sufficiently high decomposition.

The atomic economic reaction of acetic acid formation from methane and carbon dioxide via dielectric-barrier discharges at ambient conditions was investigated in this work. A significantly high selectivity of acetic acid (up to 5.3%) has been achieved with high conversions of methane (more than 54.1%) and carbon dioxide (more than 37.4%).

A novel plasma reduction and calcination (PR&C) method has been recently developed. Upon the experimental investigations on methane conversions, including partial oxidation, methane combustion, NO reduction by methane and CO2 reforming, the catalysts prepared by this PR&C method exhibit a remarkable enhancement in the dispersion, low-temperature activity and stability. A plasma-enhanced acidity has also been addressed, which would play an important role in the improved dispersion. The PR&C method is leading to a better preparation of supported catalysts, esp., those for methane conversion.

Ni-Fe/Al2O3 catalyst for partial oxidation of methane was prepared first by glow discharge plasma treatment following by calcinations thermally. Such prepared catalyst exhibits better performance over the catalyst prepared without such plasma treatment. The conversion of methane and the selectivity of CO and H2 over the plasma treated catalyst are 97.44, 100 and 100% at 875℃, while, at the same temperature, they are 90.09, 97.28 and 97.09%, respectively, over the catalyst prepared without plasma treatment. At the same methane conversion, the reaction temperature with the plasma treated Ni-Fe/Al2O3 is at least 80℃ lower. TEM characterization shows that the catalytically active species after plasma treatment are still highly dispersed on the support. In addition, the plasma treated Ni-Fe/Al2O3 catalyst also possesses better anti-carbon deposit ability.

This paper discusses catalyst preparation using thermal and cold plasmas. In general, there are three main trends in preparing catalysts using plasma technologies: (1) plasma chemical synthesis of ultrafine particle catalysts; (2) plasma assisted deposition of catalytically active compounds on various carriers, especially plasma spraying for the preparation of supported catalysts; (3) plasma enhanced preparation or plasma modification of catalysts. Compared to conventional catalyst preparation, there are several advantages of using plasmas, including: (1) a highly distributed active species; (2) reduced energy requirements; (3) enhanced catalyst activation, selectivity, and lifetime; (4) shortened preparation time. These advantages are leading to many potential applications of plasma prepared catalysts.