Non‐Oxidative Coupling of Methane Driven by Non‐Thermal Plasma: Effect of Packing Materials on Micro‐Electric Field

Abstract Non‐oxidative coupling of methane (CH 4 ) by plasma has received particular attention due to the achievement of high methane conversion and product selectivity at a low temperature. In this work, experimental results suggest that the packing materials directly affect the electric field, which in turn determines the plasma discharge and, subsequently, the conversion of CH 4 and the products selectivity. High selectivity to ethylene was obtained by BaTiO 3 packing, which can be ascribed to the moderate electric field generated with special physiochemical properties. Furthermore, in the cases of packing by ZSM‐5, γ‐Al 2 O 3 or SiO 2 granules, small size of granules contributed to generate a stronger electric field, which improves CH 4 conversion. However, reverse trend has been found in the case of packing by BaTiO 3 . Finally, the specific indicator of micro‐electric field was developed to illustrate the relationship between reaction performance and packing materials.