Resumen del autor, extraído del trabajo. The value which may be added to natural gas, by its direct conversion to olefins, has prompted the low-density plasma approach. A geometry was chosen in which conversion takes place in a large-surface-area electrode assembly, where methane ions combine with methane neutrals to produce C2+ gases. Bench-level experiments are reported on the direct, one-step conversion of methane to ethylene, propylene, and other light hydrocarbons, in a low-pressure plasma glow-discharge. Relative percentages of useful higher hydrocarbons in the output mixture range up to 42% for ethylene, to 68% for ethane, and to 48% for acetylene. The relative proportions depend upon the pressure, the current, and the voltage across the plasma discharge. Conditions have been established which favor the formation of one or two of these desirable compounds, at the expense of the other light hydrocarbon products. The production operations for which this technology is intended would include a separation of the methane component in the output mixture, and its recycling in a feedback loop, to extinction, if no other uses were planned. Results are presented relating the yields of the preferred gases to the pressure and the electrical conditions.