plasmatron in this way the size and number of pockets that are either of elevated or reduced with respect to the average hydrocarbon content are substantially decreased allowing for higher yield of hydrogen and decreased energy consumption as shown in fig1 it is useful to place a frit 52 or comparable material consisting of increased surface area downstream from the plasma discharge to increase the mixing the frit 52 can be either a conventional frit that is used just to increase the mixing or it can be made of a material that provides a catalytic reaction in the latter case the frit 50 is made of a catalytic material on a substrate such as nickel catalyst on an alumina substrate ideal for steam reforming the preferred method of air injection is to inject some of the air upstream from the plasma some of the fuel can be injected into the discharge either prior to the plasma which is the preferred method for the case of the low power plasma fuel converter or downstream from the plasma for the high power dc arc plasma fuel converter described in previous patents and patent applications of the present inventors this is done in order to prevent soot formation.