The experiments of glow discharge plasma conversion of methane to C₂ hydrocarbons were conducted by a novel reactor with rotary electrode at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. In the presence of hydrogen, the effects of electrode material and structure, peak voltage input of the electric fields and feed flow rate on methane conversion, single pass yield and selectivity of C₂ hydrocarbons were investigated. And the energy efficiency of reactors with different structure was analyzed. On the experimental conditions, the result of copper electrode was better than that of stainless steel electrode and the structure of helix was superior to that of three discs. The conversion of methane, single pass yield and selectivity of C₂ hydrocarbons rose with the increase of peak voltage input of the electric fields while fell with the decrease of feed flow rate. The reactor with helix copper electrode worked excellently considering all of the above criterions. The maximum conversion efficiency of methane, the single pass yield and the selectivity of C₂ hydrocarbons were about 77.31%, 75.66% and 97.88% respectively at the feed flow rate of 60 mL/min. And the maximum energy efficiency was 13.5% at the 800 kJ/mol energy density.

Key words: methane, glow discharge, rotary electrode, plasma, C₂ hydrocarbon