ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses especially on dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) as a source of nonthermal plasma, which is integrated into a microreactor, providing a highly nonequilibrium reaction condition. It describes a unique reaction control technique is applied successfully to the direct methane conversion to methanol. The second example is direct methane conversion to oxygenates via an exothermic reaction system. Production of various oxygenates is a characteristic of nonthermal plasma. DBD reactor was used for the direct conversion of methane to methanol without heterogeneous catalysts; however, the one-pass yield for useful oxygenates was smaller than 5% without taking advantage of the microreactor principle. Removing H2 from the plasma reaction field and separating liquid components using a liquid film are necessary for maintaining the methane conversion and reactant selectivity high.
