Hydropyrolysis of n-Hexane and Toluene to Acetylene in Rotating-Arc Plasma
Jie Ma,
Ming Zhang,
Jianhua Wu,
Qiwei Yang,
Guangdong Wen,
Baogen Su,
Qilong Ren
Affiliations
Jie Ma
Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
Ming Zhang
Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
Jianhua Wu
Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
Qiwei Yang
Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
Guangdong Wen
Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
Baogen Su
Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
Qilong Ren
Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
Thermal plasma pyrolysis is a powerful technology for converting waste or low-value materials to valuable gaseous hydrocarbons. This paper presents for the first time the hydropyrolysis of n-hexane and toluene in a rotating-arc plasma reactor. Effects of the mole ratio of H/C in the feed, power input and magnetic induction were investigated to evaluate the reaction performance. A lower H/C ratio could lead to a lower yield of C2H2 and lower specific energy consumption, and there existed an optimum range of power input for both n-hexane and toluene pyrolysis within the investigated range. The yield of C2H2 in n-hexane and toluene pyrolysis could reach 85% and 68%, respectively, with respective specific energy consumption (SEC) of 13.8 kWh/kg·C2H2 and 19.9 kWh/kg·C2H2. Compared with the results reported in literature, the rotating-arc plasma process showed higher C2H2 yield and lower energy consumption, which is attributed to the better initial mixing of the reactant with the hot plasma gas and the more uniform temperature distribution.
