Plasma-based CO2 conversion

On 18 March 2021, Prof Annemie Bogaerts of the University of Antwerp gave a lecture to RSC Belgium on 'Plasma-based CO2 conversion' - a field of catalysis that is gaining increasing interest. The talk first provided a brief introduction on plasma science in general: how is it formed and what are the major applications. It then focused on the application of CO2 conversion by plasma and plasma catalysis. An overview of the state-of-the-art in plasma-based CO2 (and CH4) conversion included descriptions of the different types of plasma reactors and also discussed the differences (and potential benefits) of the technique compared to other emerging technologies for CO2 conversion. Finally, the talk presented a few results obtained at the University of Antwerp including experiments and modeling undertaken to obtain a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms involved and to improve the overall performance and yield of the process.