Effects of Multiple Pulses on Decomposition of Hydrocarbons for Hydrogen Production

Hydrogen production on vehicle is under development by using plasma discharges working in high-pressure condition over 1.5 atm. The original fuel for the system is methane (CH
₄
) or propane (C
₃
H
₈
). For this purpose, mainly dielectric barrier discharge nonthermal plasma system is employed with high-voltage pulse of width 5-30 μs and maximum amplitude 13 kV. This wide pulse is composed of multiple of 5-μs pulse. In this system, no production of CO
_x
is expected. The decomposition rate of hydrocarbon depends on the applied pulsewidth. The phenomena of multiple pulse effects are discussed with use of multiple pulse decomposition model.