Abstract
In this work, we demonstrate plasma-catalytic synthesis of hydrogen and
acrylonitrile (AN) from CH4 and N2. The
process involves two steps: 1) plasma synthesis of
C2H2 and HCN in a nominally 1:1
stoichiometric ratio with high yield up to 90% and high methane
conversion > 90%; and 2) downstream thermocatalytic
reaction of these intermediates to make AN. The effect of process
parameters on product distributions and specific energy requirements are
reported. If the catalytic conversion of
C2H2 and HCN in the downstream
thermocatalytic step to AN were perfect, which will require further
improvements in the thermocatalytic reactor, then at the maximum output
of our 1 kW radiofrequency 13.56 MHz transformer, a specific energy
requirement of 73 kWh kgAN-1was determined. The
expectation is that scaling up the process to higher throughputs would
result in decreases in specific energy requirement into the predicted
economically viable range less than 10 kWh kgAN-1.