Abstract
By-product upgrading is crucial in hydrocarbon processing industries as it can increase the competitiveness of the business. This research investigated opportunity to upgrade fuel oil by-product obtained from olefins production by using microwave pyrolysis. A lab-scale quartz reactor filled with placed inside a 1,200 watts household microwave oven was used for the experiments. Coconut-based activated carbon was used as a microwave receptor. Microwave powers were varied at 600 W, 840 W and 1,200 W to adjust cracking temperature between 800°C and 900°C. The effect of residence time was investigated by adjusting flow rate of N2 carrier gas. The chemical compositions and product yields were analyzed by using gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). It was revealed that hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrocarbon gaseous product (alkanes, naphthenics and alkenes) were produced as the main products. For liquid products, the main compositions were cycloalkenes and polycyclic aromatic groups.
Highlights
By-product upgrading is a crucial strategy in hydrocarbon industries as it can increase overall profit margin and competitiveness of the business
The heavy hydrocarbon sample used in this work was obtained from an olefin plant in Thailand
The microwave powers and N2 carrier gas flow rate were varied to investigate the consequences on the product distribution
Summary
By-product upgrading is a crucial strategy in hydrocarbon industries as it can increase overall profit margin and competitiveness of the business. With or without catalysts, are applied to convert hydrocarbons in petrochemical industry such as hydrotreating, hydrocracking and pyrolysis. Pyrolysis is a thermal degradation of molecules in the absence of oxygen. It breaks down molecules of raw material and converts it to different reactive intermediates, in forms of solid (char), liquid and gases. The pyrolysis reaction is very complex and involves a huge number of main and side reactions, especially when dealing with a mixture of hydrocarbon feed. The reaction consists of three main steps i.e. initiation, propagation, and termination. An example of pyrolysis reaction of hexane (C6H14) by free radical mechanism can be represented as follows [1]: Initiation
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