UAntwerpen: Department of Chemistry/PLASMANT

General expertise of the research group

Plasma research by means of computer modelling and experiments, for two main applications, i.e.:

• Green chemistry, including CO2, CH4 and N2 conversion into value-added chemicals and fuels, or into fertilizers, but also NH3 cracking for green H2 production
• Plasma medicine, focusing mainly on cancer treatment, but also virus inactivation

The aim is to obtain better insights in the underlying mechanisms, in order to improve the applications. Indeed, plasma technology is very promising for green chemistry, as energy-efficient alternative to the existing classical conversion methods, because the splitting of inert molecules (such as CO2, CH4 and N2) is initiated by energetic electrons present in the plasma.

Specific hydrogen- related expertise & research topics

• Plasma-based CH4 conversion into H2 (and value-added carbon) and into higher hydrocarbons (e.g., ethylene, acetylene) and oxygenates
• Plasma-based dry reforming of methane, including plasma catalysis, for the production of syngas and other value-added chemicals and fuels
• Plasma-based H2 synthesis from other hydrocarbons (e.g., methanol, ethanol, and even plastic waste pyrolysis products), as well as from NH3
• We perform research for all these applications, by a combination of plasma chemistry and plasma reactor modelling, and experiments.

Participating in FL/B/EU funded projects with H2 related research:

• HyPACT: Cracking of green ammonia to hydrogen using innovative catalyst and adsorbent assisted plasma technology, ETF project, with Waterstofnet, KULeuven (J. Martens), and UAntwerpen (P. Perreault).
• OPTANIC: Energy‐efficient plasma conversion of greenhouse gases to methanol, the fuel of the future, BlueApp POC project, with our spinoff Optanic.
• PLASyntH2: Plasma-based green hydrogen synthesis from hydrocarbons, FWO-FNRS Excellence of Science project, with UGent (N. De Geyter, R. Morent), UMONS (R. Snyders) and ULB (F. Reniers).
• P2O: Power to olefins: Electrified steam cracking and plasma booster, Catalisti-Moonshot SBO project, with UGent (K. Van Geem, G. Stefanidis, R. Morent) and VKI.
• SCOPE: Surface-COnfined fast-modulated Plasma for process and Energy intensification in small molecules conversion, ERC Synergy Grant, with Univ. Messina (G. Centi), Warwick Univ. (E. Rebrov) and Univ. Adelaide (V. Hessel).
• Plasma-catalytic hydrogenation of CO2 to CH3OH: Study of the underlying mechanisms by integrated microkinetic modelling of plasma chemistry and surface reactions, FWO mandate.

Available equipment/tools:

• Various (gliding) arc plasma reactors, atmospheric pressure glow discharges, microwave plasmas and dielectric barrier discharge plasmas,
• Analysis equipment (GC, MS, non-dispersive IR/UR, optical sensors) for gas conversion.
• Various types of models: quasi-1D chemical reaction kinetics models, 2D/3D fluid dynamics simulations, Monte Carlo, particle-in-cell Monte Carlo, hybrid models, molecular dynamics, density functional theory simulations.

International collaborations:

• ERC Synergy Grant “SCOPE”, together with G. Centi, V. Hessel and E. Rebrov: See website ERC Synergy SCOPE
• DIFFER (Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research)
• Eindhoven University of Technology
• Maastricht University
• University of Liverpool
• University of Messina
• University of Warwick
• University of Adelaide
• University of Manchester
• University of Notre Dame
• Dalian University of Technology
• CSIRO-Australia;…

Main relevant publications

1. Plasma technology – a novel solution for CO2 conversion ? R. Snoeckx and A. Bogaerts, Chem. Soc. Rev. 46, 5805-5863 (2017). Selected for the cover of the journal (IF 40.182).
2. Plasma technology: An emerging technology for energy storage. A. Bogaerts and E. Neyts, ACS Energy Lett. 3, 1013-1027 (2018). Invited feature article, and selected to be featured in ACS Editors’ Choice + Free Open Access (IF 16.331)
3. Plasma-based CH4 conversion into higher hydrocarbons and H2: Modelling to reveal the reaction mechanisms of different plasma sources. S. Heijkers, M. Aghaei, A. Bogaerts, J. Phys. Chem. C, 124, 7016-7030 (2020). Featured in “ACS Editors’ Choice”, and given open access due to its potential for broad public interest.
4. Plasma-catalytic ammonia reforming of methane over Cu-based catalysts for the production of HCN and H2 at reduced temperature. Y. Yi, X. Wang, A. Jafarzadeh, L. Wang, P. Liu, B. He, J. Yan, R. Zhang, H. Zhang, X. Liu, H. Guo, E.C. Neyts and A. Bogaerts, ACS Catal., 11, 1765-1773 (2021).
5. Plasma-catalytic ammonia decomposition using a packed-bed dielectric barrier discharge reactor. J. A. Andersen, J. M. Christensen, M. Østberg, A. Bogaerts and A. D. Jensen, Int. J. Hydrog. Energy, 47, 32081-32091 (2022).
6. Methane coupling in nanosecond pulsed plasmas: correlation between temperature and pressure and effects on product selectivity. E. Morais, E. Delikonstantis, M. Scapinello, G. Smith, G. D. Stefanidis and A. Bogaerts, Chem. Eng. J. 462, 142227 (2023). (15 pages)
7. Modelling the dynamics of hydrogen synthesis from methane in nanosecond-pulsed plasmas. E. Morais and A. Bogaerts, Plasma Process. Polymers, 2300149 (2023). (10 pages)
8. NH3 decomposition for H2 production by thermal and plasma catalysis using bimetallic catalysts. S. Meng, S. Li, S. Sun, A Bogaerts, Y. Liu and Y. Yi, Chem. Eng. Sci, 283, 119449 (2024).