The kinetics of CO2 reforming of CH4 in kilohertz spark-discharge plasma was studied. At CH4/CO2 ratio of 1, the effects of specific energy input (SEI), electrode gap (d), total pressure (p) and frequency of the applied voltage (f) on the reactant conversions and C-based and H-based selectivities were investigated. Thereby, the kinetic rate equation for CO2 reforming of CH4 in spark-discharge plasma was established. The dependence of the CH4 and CO2 conversions (X-CH4,X-CO2) on pd value (the product of p and d) and SEI can be expressed as follows: X-CH4/(1- X-CH4) = k(CH4) center dot (pd) center dot SEI and X-CO2/(1-X-CO2) = k(CO2) center dot (pd) center dot SEI, where k(CH4), and k(CO2), are the rate constant of CH4 and CO2 conversion, respectively. Increasing f from 5 to 80 kHz, k(CH4) and k(CO2) increase from 0.78 and 0.53 mol.MJ(-1).bar(-1).mm(-1) to 1.04 and 0.63 mol.MJ(-1).bar(-1).mm(-1), respectively. The reliability of the rate equation was verified by a comparison between the calculated value and the experimental data. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.