Ni-Fe/La2O3 catalyst prepared by a glow discharge plasma treatment following calcinations thermally exhibits higher activity and selectivity compared to the Ni-Fe/La2O3 prepared conventionally. At the same reaction temperature, the CH4 conversion, CO selectivity and H2 selectivity obtained from the plasma prepared Ni-Fe/La2O3 are 5-9%, 4-7% and 9-15% higher than those from the conventional Ni-Fe/La2O3 catalyst, respectively. At the same methane conversion, the reaction temperature with the plasma prepared Ni-Fe/La2O3 is at least 100 C lower than that with the conventional Ni-Fe/La2O3.

The combination of catalyst and non-thermal plasmas has led to some unusual chemical behaviors, especially with zeolite catalyst. A mechanism has been proposed to explain the observed interaction between catalyst and non-thermal plasmas. This mechanism includes two aspects: plasma promoted or induced catalysis and catalyst enhanced non-equilibrium of nonthermal plasmas. In this paper, we present some direct experimental evidence for the catalyst (zeolite)-enhanced non-equilibrium of non-thermal plasmas suggesting the use of zeolite increases, significantly, the electron temperature of non-thermal plasmas, while the gas temperature remains unchanged. A floating double-probe characteristic has been utilized to measure the electron temperature. Compared to the case without zeolite, the electron temperature of non-thermal plasmas with Mo-Zn/HZSM-5 increases up to 250%, while, at the same time, the discharge power reduces 58%, compared to that without zeolite. r 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

A lot of attentions have been recently paid to the CO2 reforming of methane to syngas. A major reason for it is that this reaction can provide us a syngas with a 1/1 ratio of H2 and CO, which is typically suitable for the synthesis of valuable oxygenated chemicals.1 Among the catalysts developed, Al2O3 supported Ni catalysts were extensively investigated due to their relatively high activity and low cost. The major problem for the further practical application of these nickel catalysts is the deactivation of the catalyst, suffered from carbon deposition on the catalyst during reactions. Many investigators are working on the improvement in this nickel catalyst by using the addition of promoters,2, 3 using novel reactor configurations,4 and using different supports.3 In this work, we attempt to use an AC corona discharge plasma for the CO2 reforming of methane to syngas. A stable operation of plasma CO2 reforming of methane has been achieved.

A novel method for starch modification is investigated. Starch is highly cross linked by glow discharge plasma, without the assistance of conventional chemical agents, thus avoiding any environmental concerns. An energy-charge-transfer mechanism is suggested for the function of plasma. This process could be useful for the production of large quantities of modified starch.