The importance of temperature rise time in pyrolysis kinetic studies

Abstract

The measurement of the kinetics of fast chemical reactions, such as hydrocarbon pyrolysis, is often hampered by limitations of the experimental reactor. To overcome problems in getting to reaction temperature, a micro‐reactor system has been developed with temperature rise times (TRT) in the millisecond range. Data is presented for the dynamic response of a Curie Point pyrolyser along with a computer simulation of how the gas‐filled micro‐reactor would respond. The importance of temperature rise time is clearly demonstrated by the computer simulations of propane and naphtha pyrolysis in the temperature range of 600°C and 1100°C.

Research contributions of Leo A. Behie to chemical and biomedical engineering

“…The temperature rise time, that is, the time for reaching a reactor temperature, from ambient temperature, was also recognized as a key requirement in ultrapyrolysis kinetic studies. [ 46 ] The importance of rapid quenching also reverberated in modelling studies of cooling of product gases in the quench line exchangers downstream of ethane pyrolysis and propane pyrolysis reactors. [ 47,48 ] Both of these studies revealed that quenching of product gases could be achieved in less than 10–15 ms.…”

Reconsidering the potential of micropyrolyzer to investigate biomass fast pyrolysis without heat transfer limitations

“…The primary technical challenge in using commercial reactors is to make accurate measurements of the actual temperature of biomass sample. Knowing the time-temperature history within the sample is critical to assessing the chemical modeling of biomass fast pyrolysis [31]. The determination of the actual heating rates of the biomass sample remains ambiguous.…”

Use of a Microstructured Mixer for Reaction Kinetics of Thermal Cracking

“…Continuous-flow tubular reactors have been used by previous researchers − to study pyrolysis of n -alkanes at elevated temperatures, but this type of reactor does not give an isothermal temperature profile or a very fast temperature rise to desired temperatures . The use of a Curie point pyrolyzer to overcome the significant temperature profile in an externally heated tubular reactor was demonstrated for propane and n -hexadecane 576–842 °C . Other techniques, such as laser heating give faster heating but lack the ability to correctly determine, control, and maintain a final temperature.…”