an oxygen supply line 15 the oxygen is derived from an electrolyzer plant or an air reduction plant and is typically 99 5 pure the two gases methane and oxygen are fed into the reactor 11 at low pressure under 75 psig and low velocity the molecular oxygen is passed between electrostatic plates 17 and 19 which form a gap therebetween a high voltage transformer 23 is powered by an alternating current supply line 21 the output of transformer 23 is variable and can be adjusted to provide between 1 000 and 10 000 volts on the secondary winding the spacing of the electrostatic plates 17 and 19 is adjusted to prevent arcing between the plates 17 and 19 depending on the density of the flow volume of the oxygen and the dielectric characteristics of the oxygen the electrostatic field between the plates 17 and 19 generates heat by hysteresis action sufficient to weaken and break the bond between the oxygen atoms prior to their combination with the methane molecules the reaction is observed visibly and spectroscopically via sight glass 14 the combustion temperature should be in the neighborhood of 1200 u00b0 c the oxidation and reduction of the methane molecules by the oxygen atoms forms methyl molecules ch 3 and hydroxy molecules oh that combine to form the methanol molecules i e methanol gas by the following reaction the methanol gas thus formed in the reactor chamber 11 rises in the reactor column encountering vortex baffle plates 28 in the center of the reactor column to decrease the velocity of the methanol gas and direct the gas to the walls of the water cooled helical coils 12 and to the air cooled wall 27 of the reactor column the reactor column wall 27 is air.