Power Electronics Testbed for Converting Methane to Liquid Fuels via Electrical Corona

Methane is often considered a waste gas, and is commonly cited as a greenhouse gas. This paper presents an innovative process to efficiently convert waste methane to liquid transportation fuels (e.g., gasoline and diesel) through the use of electrical corona. To generate the controlled corona a power electronics testbed has been developed to compare the electrical efficiency and chemical products' yield for de discharges across the methane gas stream. In the ionized/free charge particle corona environment, the methane gas carbon atoms recombine into longer carbon chains enabling condensation into liquid fuels, where temperature is used to control the length of the hydrocarbon chains. This paper describes the methane to liquid fuels conversion process and the power electronics testbed, and provides simulation and experimental results, and conclusions.