Pyrolysis of light paraffins

Tsai, T.C. Albright, L.F. Surface reactions occurring during pyrolysis of light paraffins. In Industrial and Laboratory Pyrolysis] Albright, L.F. Crynes, B.L., Eds. ACS Symposium Series, 32 American Chemical Society Washington, D.C., 1976 Chapter 16. 

A recent study by Tsai and Albright (1975) clearly indicated some of the important surface reactions occuring in reactors constructed of different metals during the pyrolysis of light paraffins. These reactions include formation of carbon, removal of carbon, oxidation of metal surfaces, reduction of surface oxides, formation of metal sulfides, and destruction of metal sulfides. 

Tsai, C., and Albright L., "Surface Reactions Occurring During Pyrolysis of Light Paraffins," ACS Meeting, Philadelphia (April, 1975). 

Surface Reactions Occurring Durii Pyrolysis of Light Paraffins... 

Role of the Reactor Surface in Pyrolysis of Light Paraffins and Olefins... 

Although hydrocarbon pyrolysis has been a subject of intense research over the past 100 years, heavier compounds (Cjo ) have largely been excluded from study. Rather, most studies have been restricted to light paraffins such as ethane, propane and butane. This is primarily due to the fact that pyrolysis is a non-selective process. Thus, as heavier and heavier hydrocarbon reactants are pyrolysed, the complexity of the product mixture increases dramatically. It was not until the widespread application of sophisticated analytical techniques, such as gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, that it became possible to identify and quantify the vast products of heavier hydrocarbons pyrolysis. 

It is known that polyolefinic polymers can be readily thermally decomposed to gaseous and liquid hydrocarbons. The pyrolysis of these kinds of polymers in an inert atmosphere or under vacuum at elevated temperatures gives heavy hydrocarbons as major reaction products. Mainly light paraffins and olefins are obtained during polymer thermolysis at higher temperatures (above 700 °C). In... 

The pyrolysis liquids consist mainly of tar, light oil, and liquor. The tar contains 16-25% olefins, 62-80% aromatics, and 3-14.5% paraffins and naphthenes, and the remainder is organic compounds that have been identified as acids, bases, ketones, and... 

Starting with the pioneering work of Myers and Watson (9) on propane pyrolysis, this approach has been successfully applied to virtually all light hydrocarbons (10,11,12,13,14) and extended up to C8 normal and branched paraffins (15,16). Fewer studies have been reported on mixture pyrolysis (17,18,19), especially for heavier feedstocks (20). This type of modeling will be illustrated later with an example. 

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