Kinetic study of the pyrolysis of tetrachloroethylene in a hydrogen rich environment

• Published in: Fuel (Guildford) Vol. 83; no. 16; pp. 2237 - 2248
• Main Authors: Wu, Yo-Ping G., Lin, Ya-Fen, Huang, Chung-Lei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.11.2004; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Exact sciences and technology; Fuels; Pyrolysis; Reaction kinetics; Tetrachloroethylene; Tetrachloroethylene; Pyrolysis; Reaction kinetics; Sensitivity analysis; Residence time; Hydrogen; Laboratory scale; Decomposition; Modeling; Chlorocarbon; Reaction mechanism; Aromatic compound; Kinetics; Argon
• ISSN: 0016-2361; 1873-7153
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fuel.2004.06.012

Experiments on pyrolysis of C 2Cl 4 with hydrogen in argon bath gas (C 2Cl 4: H 2: AR=0.5:7:92.5) were performed in a laboratory scale flow reactor, to determine reaction paths and kinetic parameters, plus to observe hydrogen as a source to convert chlorocarbons into hydrocarbons and HCl. The reaction was carried out at 1 atmosphere total pressure in the tubular flow reactor, over temperature ranges from 575 to 850 °C, with average residence times in the range of 0.3 to 1.2 s. The major reaction products were C 2HCl 3, CH 2CCl 2, C 2H 6, C 2H 4 and HCl. Trace intermediates including CH 4, C 2H 2, C 3H 6, C 3H 4, C 4H 8, C 4H 6, C 4H 4, C 2H 3Cl, C 2HCl, trans-CHCl CHCl, cis-CHCl CHCl C 2Cl 2 and aromatic compounds were found. The equation for overall loss of C 2Cl 4 (k (s −1)) was 1.35×10 6exp(−27055/RT). This study shows that C 2H 4 became the major product for reaction temperatures higher than 700 °C, and became one of the final products together with HCl. A detailed kinetic mechanism consisting of 202 elementary reactions with 59 species was developed to model the results obtained from the experiments. Sensitivity analyses were performed to rank the significance of each reaction in the mechanism. Modeling and sensitivity analysis revealed that C 2Cl 4+H→C 2HCl 3+Cl, C 2Cl 4+H→C 2Cl 3+Cl, and C 2Cl 4→C 2Cl 3+Cl are the primary reactions for the decomposition of C 2Cl 4.