July 31, 2017 – Skyhaven Principals have been awarded a multi-year contract by the Department of Energy to develop a cold plasma reactor for the partial oxidation of methane to higher value products. In particular, the market for syngas, an important intermediary for the production of methanol, hydrogen, ammonia, and synthetic petroleum fuels, is expected to grow globally at a compound annual growth rate of more than 14% by 2020.  The most widely used process for making syngas is steam reforming of methane; however, the process is energy intensive and is more expensive than the DOE’s cost targets for the production of hydrogen.  Syngas production through partial oxidation of methane is not as common as steam reforming but does have reduced energy costs.  Short contact time partial oxidation of methane has been shown to have promise on the bench scale; however, achieving partial oxidation in practice is difficult due to the tendency to completely oxidize methane to CO₂ and water. Toward this need, Skyhaven Principals have developed a new catalyst system that enables the control delivery of oxygen to the catalyst sites to partially oxidize methane to syngas with favorable economic and performance benefits. Continued development of the catalyst system along with cold plasma driving forces aims to produce reactors that convert methane and natural gas to syngas using a less energy intensive process.