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

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.