CO₂ conversion in a dielectric barrier discharge plasma by argon dilution over MgO/HKUST-1 catalyst using response...

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as carbon dioxide adsorption in combination with metal oxides have shown catalyst application in CO₂ conversion. Herein, the MgO/HKUST-1 catalyst is synthesized to direct conversion of CO₂ upon dilution by argon in a cylindrical dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor. A water-cooling circulation adjusts the reactor temperature, and aluminum powder is used as a high-voltage electrode. The effect of the discharge power, feed flow rate, CO₂ fraction, and their interaction in plasma and plasma catalyst method on CO₂ conversion (R₁), effective CO₂ conversion (R₂), and energy efficiency (R₃) is evaluated by central composite design (CCD) based on response surface methodology. The Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) results demonstrate that the quadratic regression model describes CO₂ conversion and effective CO₂ conversion, and the reduced cubic model describes energy efficiency. The results indicate that the method (plasma, plasma catalyst) and discharge power on R₁ and R₂ have a considerable effect. Also, the method and CO₂ fraction on R₃ have the greatest impact, respectively. In the plasma and plasma catalyst method maximum CO₂ conversion is 12.3% and 20.5% at a feed flow rate of 80 ml/min, CO₂ fraction of 50%, and discharge power of 74 W.