Production of synthesis gas from propane using thermal water vapor plasma

In this work, an experimental plasma-chemical reactor equipped with a water vapor plasma torch was used for catalyst-free thermal plasma reforming of propane to produce a synthesis gas. Thermal arc discharge plasma (a mixture of water vapor and argon) was generated at atmospheric pressure. The influences of the H2O vapor and C3H8 flow rates on the syngas production, composition, and energy conversion efficiency as well as specific energy requirements were investigated. The best results were obtained under the experimental conditions of H2O vapor flow rate of 360 l/min, C3H8 flow rate of 47 l/min, and input plasma torch power of 63 kW. The concentrations of the products were as follows: H2 68.9%, CO 21%, CO2 5%, CH4 0.55%, and C2H2 0.9%. The C3H8 conversion ratio, H2 yield, H2 selectivity, and CO selectivity were 100%, 67%, 48.5%, 25.3%, respectively. The highest energy efficiency and the lowest specific energy requirement were 65% and 32.7 kJ/mol, respectively, and the H2/CO ratio was 3.28. The modeling of chemical processes, based on the classical thermodynamic equilibrium reactor, was also proposed. The calculated data fit quite well the experimental results. •Synthesis gas production from propane using thermal water vapor plasma reforming.•Initiation of chemical reactions starts due to OH, O and H radicals.•Thermodynamic equilibrium modeling data coincides with the experimental data.•Energy efficiency and specific energy requirement were 65% and 32.7 kJ/mol.