Supercritical Pyrolysis of N-Decane Sean Bagley Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected]
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2010 Supercritical Pyrolysis of n-Decane Sean Bagley Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Chemical Engineering Commons Recommended Citation Bagley, Sean, "Supercritical Pyrolysis of n-Decane" (2010). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 4000. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/4000 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. SUPERCRITICAL PYROLYSIS OF N-DECANE A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Chemical Engineering by Sean Bagley B.S., Louisiana State University, 2003 December 2010 Acknowledgements I gratefully acknowledge the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, for providing the necessary funding for this research. I would like to thank Dr. Arthur Lafleur and Ms. Elaine Plummer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Dr. John Fetzer of Chevron Research for providing reference standards and/or UV spectra of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to my professor. I would like to thank my professor, Dr. Judy Wornat, for her wisdom and patience. The members of my group, Elmer Ledesma, Jorge Oña, Shiju Thomas, Michelle Walker, Jerome Robles, Franz Ehrenhauser, and Nimesh Poddar, each of whom contributed to my project in innumerable ways. And finally I would like to thank my parents, Mary and Patrick Bagley, who always set an example of hard work and honesty. ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... ii Abstract ...........................................................................................................................................v Chapter 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................1 1.1 Background and Relevant Literature ......................................................................................1 1.2 Purpose of the Study .............................................................................................................6 1.3 Structure of This Thesis ........................................................................................................6 Chapter 2. Experimental Equipment and Analysis Techniques .......................................................8 2.1 Introduction ...........................................................................................................................8 2.2 Supercritical Fuel Pyrolysis Reactor System ........................................................................8 2.3 Product Analysis .................................................................................................................11 2.3.1 Gas-Phase Product Analysis ..........................................................................................12 2.3.2 Liquid-Phase Product Analysis by Gas Chromatography ............................................13 2.3.3 Liquid-Phase Product Analysis by High Pressure Liquid Chromatography ................14 2.3.3.1 Product Separation and Identification ...................................................................19 2.3.3.2 Solvent Methods for the Second Dimension of HPLC Separation .......................25 2.3.3.3 Determination of Fraction Elution Times .............................................................26 2.4 Concluding Remarks ...........................................................................................................27 Chapter 3. Product Identification ..................................................................................................29 3.1 Introduction .........................................................................................................................29 3.2 Gas-Phase Product Identification ........................................................................................29 3.3 Liquid-Phase Product Identification by Gas Chromatography ...........................................29 3.4 Identification of PAH Products ............................................................................................31 3.4.1 Identification of PAH Products in Fraction 1 ................................................................32 3.4.2 Identification of PAH Products in Fraction 2 ...............................................................37 3.4.3 Identification of PAH Products in Fraction 3 ...............................................................43 3.4.4 Identification of PAH Products in Fraction 4 ................................................................50 3.4.5 Identification of PAH Products in Fraction 5 ...............................................................56 3.4.6 Identification of PAH Products in Fraction 6 ................................................................60 3.4.7 Identification of PAH Products in Fraction 7 ...............................................................66 3.4.8 Identification of PAH Products in Fraction 8 ...............................................................69 3.4.9 Identification of PAH Products in Fraction 9 ...............................................................79 3.4.10 Identification of PAH in Fractions 10 and 12 .............................................................87 3.4.11 Identification of PAH Products in Fraction 11 ............................................................92 3.5 .Summary ............................................................................................................................92 Chapter 4. Results and Discussion ................................................................................................98 4.1 Introduction .........................................................................................................................98 4.2 Alkane and Alkene Products ...............................................................................................98 4.2.1 Alkane and Alkene Product Formation Mechanisms .................................................100 4.2.2 Alkane and Alkene Product Distributions ..................................................................103 iii 4.3 One-Ring Aromatic Products ............................................................................................105 4.3.1 Single-Ring Aromatic Formation Mechanisms ..........................................................107 4.3.2 Temperature and Pressure Effects on Single-Ring Aromatic Product Yields ............113 4.4 Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Products .....................................................................114 4.4.1 Naphthalene ................................................................................................................115 4.4.2 Fluorene and Benzo[b]fluorene ..................................................................................118 4.4.3 Phenanthrene and Anthracene ....................................................................................123 4.4.4 Pyrene .........................................................................................................................128 4.4.5 Cyclopenta-Fused PAH ..............................................................................................134 4.4.6 Fluoranthene ...............................................................................................................138 4.4.7 Triphenylene, Chrysene, and Benz[a]anthracene .......................................................140 4.4.8 Benzofluoranthenes and Perylene ..............................................................................143 4.4.9 Benzo[a]pyrene and Benzo[e]pyrene .........................................................................145 4.4.10 Benzo[ghi]perylene, Anthanthrene, and Coronene ..................................................150 4.4.11 Fluoranthene Benzologues and Benzo[b]perylene ...................................................153 4.4.12 Dibenzo- and Naphthopyrenes and Dibenzo[cd,lm]perylene ...................................157 4.4.13 Dibenzo- and Naphthoperylenes ..............................................................................162 4.4.14 Eight- and Nine-Ring PAH ......................................................................................164 4.4.15 Summary of Results and Conclusions Related to PAH ............................................166 Chapter 5. Conclusions and Recommendations ..........................................................................169 References ...................................................................................................................................176 Appendix A. HPLC Chromatograms for the Quantification of Two- to Five-Ring PAH ...........180 Appendix B. Numerical Values of Product Yields .....................................................................183 Vita ..............................................................................................................................................195