Hydrogen generation from hydro-ethanol reforming by DBD-plasma

Non-thermal plasma is an effective technology for hydrogen production from biological ethanol by plasma reforming. In this paper, the hydrogen was produced from hydro-ethanol by a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma reactor filled with quartz beads. A comparative experimental research on the bevel-gear-to-plane electrodes with and without the quartz beads is reported. The results show that the input power of electrode filled with quartz beads is higher than without quartz beads, and the efficiency of energy conversion is higher than that without the beads. The reforming efficiency drops with increasing flow rate and relatively higher hydrogen conversion can be obtained by proper size of beads. A conversion rate of 45% was obtained from 75% ethanol at input power of 100 W, flow rate of 5 ml/min and quartz bead size of 2.0 mm. Copyright (C) 2011, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.