The work resumes the preliminary studies on the possibility of obtaining C₂ hydrocarbons from methane in a barrier discharge stabilised with a dielectric barrier. The process of methane conversion was carried out in a flow-through plasma reactor made of quartz. The design of the reactor enabled to carry out the process at various temperatures and with various types of solid packing in the discharge gap. The kinetic characteristics of methane decomposition were determined without packing and with several packing materials: granular quartz. silica gel, iron deposited on silica gel. or BaTiO₃ ceramics. It has been shown that the kind of packing can affect the methane transformations. Under the conditions applied. i.e. at temperatures below 300°C, ethane was the main product of reactions where the initial mixture was methane + argon or methane + argon + carbon dioxide.