Characteristics of copyrolysis polyethylene with carbon dioxide in a horizontal DC plasma jet reactor

Summary form only given. Characteristics of copyrolysis polyethylene (PE) with greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO₂) was investigated in a horizontal DC plasma jet reactor, for the aim to adjust the H₂/CO molar ratio in the gaseous products in a wide range to further synthesize liquid fuel. For comparison, pyrolysis PE alone as well as pyrolysis CO₂ alone was also studied in light of CO yield. Results showed that: in case of plasma pyrolysis PE alone, product streams included combustible gas and solid carbon, and the main components of the gaseous products consisted of a large amount of H₂ achieved at 21.3 vol % and a small amount of low molecular hydrocarbon, CO was not determined in the gaseous products thanks to PE being hydrocarbon polymer. In terms of H₂ yield performance, the horizontal plasma jet reactor under development was superior to the downward mode. In case of plasma pryolysis CO₂ alone, just a small amount of CO obtained from the decomposing reaction of CO₂, and the CO concentration in the gaseous products was less than 5%. In case of plasma copyrolysis PE with CO₂, a wide range of H₂/CO molar ratio in the gaseous products can be obtained with varying the inlet CO2 concentration, and the product of CO obtained mainly from the gasified reaction of carbon with CO₂, in which carbon generated from plasma pyrolysis PE. In this paper, the H₂/CO molar ratio was adjustable in the range of 1 to 12 from plasma copyrolysis PE with CO₂. Thus, a significant synergy effect can be observed from copyrolysis PE with CO₂ in terms of the CO yields.