A study of different soots using pyrolysis–GC–MS and comparison with solvent extractable material

Abstract

This paper presents characterisation data for a range of soots produced by combustion from ethylene, benzene and kerosene, and soot from the biomass materials willow coppice and oat straw. Soot samples from laminar flames burning the hydrocarbons have been characterised using heated probe mass spectrometry (MS) and gas chromatography (GC)–MS. In some cases fractional pyrolysis–GC–MS was performed at 400 °C/1000 °C. Solvent extraction of samples in toluene or methanol was also employed. Three main categories of material are found for each soot sample: loosely bound solvent extractable material, more strongly bound higher molecular weight material that is difficult to resolve, and highly developed soot. Biomass soot also shows this three component composition although a much wider range of polycyclic aromatic and of oxygenated compounds are present.