Experimental and Modeling Investigation on the Pyrolysis of n-C10H22 Initiated by C2H5NO2

Abstract

ABSTRACT To investigate the mechanism of the nitro-alkanes initiation effect on the pyrolysis of hydrocarbons, pyrolysis experiments were conducted on n-C10H22, C2H5NO2, and a binary mixture of both compounds using synchronous vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry. These experiments were performed within a heated flow tube under varying pressure conditions of 30 and 760 Torr. Identifying and measuring pyrolysis species, comprising stable species and radicals, provides insights into the mechanism underlying the pyrolysis and the interaction of n-C10H22 and C2H5NO2. The findings demonstrate that C2H5NO2 can reduce the initial decomposition temperature of n-C10H22, and the acceleration effect on pyrolysis becomes more pronounced with an increase in experimental pressure. The addition of C2H5NO2 also affects the distribution of alkanes, alkenes, dienes, and alkynes. A detailed elementary reaction-dynamics model comprising 223 species and 1730 reactions was established and used to simulate the distribution of C2H5NO2, n-C10H22, major species, and significant intermediates observed in the experiments. The results prove that the developed model exhibits good accuracy in predicting experimental results and enables a detailed analysis of the initiation mechanism of C2H5NO2 on n-C10H22. The impact of C2H5NO2 on the conversion rate and selectivity of pyrolysis products of n-C10H22 is highlighted and elucidated.