Decomposition Of Hydrocarbons Research Articles

Drifting long-lived. To the 50ʰᵗ anniversary of the opening of the “North Pole-22” station

The national drifting station “North Pole-22” (NP-22 or SP-22) had been opened on September 13, 1973 in the Arctic on the big ice island and operated for 3130 days. Now it is the longest operating observational station in the history of Arctic studies of the USSR and the Russian Federation. For eight and a half years, its total drift amounted 17,069 km. During that period a wide complex of scientific programs in oceanography, geophysics, meteorology, glaciology, hydrography, hydrobiology was carried out here. In addition, field tests and implementation of new types of scientific instruments and introduction of new expeditionary polar equipment into the observation practice were performed. For the first time in the practice of the drifting NP/SP stations, oblique sounding of the ionosphere, observations of fine thermohaline structure of waters of the active layer of the Arctic Ocean were carried out. Geographical coordinates of the station drift were determined using Soviet satellite navigation systems; a complex for recording satellite images of the ice cover was deployed; investigations of the arctic ecosystems were made. Specific experiments were conducted aimed at the natural decomposition of heavy hydrocarbons by the ultraviolet solar radiation. The ice airfield of this station received 1,511 flights of aircraft and helicopters, delivering 2,961 tons of expedition cargos. Landings on this airfield were provided by flight teams of the High-Latitude Air Expedition “Sever” of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute and the Hydrographic Service of the Northern Fleet. Foreign specialists repeatedly visited the station. For the nine rotations of polar explorers who worked at the NP/SP-22, its personnel amounted to 249 people, many of them several times worked at this drifting station in different years. The work of the NP/SP-22 team was appreciated by the government authorities of the USSR.

Investigation of the utilization of forest woodchips in a commercial small-scale open-top gasifier

The present work investigates the gasification of forest woodchips, which also contain needles, branches and cones, in an 85-kW open-top gasifier with 60 %–100 % load. This lower quality fuel has higher contents of ash, bark and fines compared to typical requirements of commercial small-scale gasifiers. The woodchips were utilized in unsieved and sieved (>10 mm) fraction. By using gas analysis and temperature measurements at a high local and temporal resolution, three main novel results were found: 1) The results of this work confirm that preferential paths in the fuel bed, caused by the fines content, led to a worse gas quality. The positive effects of a load reduction (i.e., increasing hydrogen and decreasing tars contents) were not found with the unsieved fuel. 2) Opposite trends for the methane concentration with the load were found with unsieved and sieved fuel. The preferential paths probably prevented the complete decomposition of longer-chain hydrocarbons and increased the intermediate product methane, while the non-methane hydrocarbon content reduced at a similar rate with both fuel fractions. 3) When using unsieved fuel, reducing the load massively decreased the fluctuations of the air mass flow and the total hydrocarbon content. With sieved fuel, however, a satisfying process stability was already achieved in all loads. Therefore, an appropriate load management was identified to enable the utilization of fuels with higher fines contents. With these new findings, forest chips in unsieved and sieved form can be successfully used in small-scale open-top gasification.

About the sonoluminescent spectral portrait of gasoline water pollution

Single-bubble sonoluminescence spectra of the following samples were recorded in the modes of standing and moving bubble in liquid near the center of its levitation under the action of ultrasound: water contaminated with additives of commercial gasoline (1.5 – 38 mg·L−1), water with additives of individual gasoline components (hexane, benzene, toluene, p-xylene, naphthalene, anthracene, and p-terphenyl), and solutions of these gasoline components in hexane. Characteristic bands λmax of gasoline component emitters are recorded in the sonoluminescence spectra of a moving bubble for water samples contaminated with additives of commercial gasoline: 290 (p-xylene), 340 (p-terphenyl), 381, 399, 424, 449 (anthracene), and 438, 474, 516, 564 nm (C2, a hydrocarbon decomposition product during sonolysis).These bands are as a spectral portrait of gasoline contamination of water: they make it possible to identify gasoline in water in the above mentioned range of its content and to find a quantitative content of individual gasoline components.

A TGA-FTIR study on the pyrolysis of oil-based drilling cuttings and the influence of its solids on pyrolysis characteristics

During the drilling process in oil and gas fields, rock cuttings and other solid impurities are returned to the wellhead along with oil-based drilling fluids, forming oil-based drill cuttings. Organic pollutants in oil-based drill cuttings can be removed through pyrolysis. Although there has been some research on the pyrolysis of oil-based drilling cuttings, there is little analysis of the impact of rock-solid impurities in oil-based drill cuttings on the pyrolysis of organic components. Therefore, in this study, thermogravimetry coupled with infrared spectroscopy was used to analyze the pyrolysis characteristics of oil-based drill cuttings, exploring the major volatile components at different pyrolysis temperatures. Meanwhile, the oil and solids in oil-based drilling cuttings were separated by Soxhlet extraction, and the influence of solids on pyrolysis characteristics was studied. The results showed that the average pyrolysis activation energy and pre-exponential factor of the main pyrolysis stage of oil-based drill cuttings obtained by the FWO method were 50.6 KJ/mol and 3.951×104 s−1, respectively, while those of the separated residual oil were 84.7 KJ/mol and 2.905×109 s−1, respectively. This indicates that solids in oil-based drilling cuttings is increasing the mass loss rate during pyrolysis. The difference in pyrolysis kinetics between oil-based drilling cuttings and residual oil indicates that the solid in oil-based rock cuttings provides a surface for the reaction, which provides a reaction site for the decomposition of hydrocarbons to produce lighter volatile hydrocarbons. Additionally, the results of infrared spectroscopy indicated that the volatile products of the pyrolysis of oil-based drilling cuttings include CH4, CO, CO2, H2O, aldehydes, organic acids, etc. CH4 is the main product of the first weight loss stage, mainly released between 150°C and 200°C. With the increase in temperature, the concentrations of H2O, CO2, aldehydes, and organic acids gradually increased. At 600°C, the maximum concentration of CO2 release occurred, and the release of CO2 was the main reason for the third-stage weight loss in the pyrolysis of oil-based drilling cuttings

Autochthonous bioaugmentation strategies for the successful bioremediation of high-salt petrochemical wastewater using a biosurfactant-producing Enterobacter cloacae Z11

Petrochemical wastewater contains a high concentration of refractory aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons. Bioremediation of these hazardous materials using autochthonous bioaugmentation (ABA) strategy is attracting increasing interest. Herein, an indigenous biosurfactant-producing bacteria Z11 was isolated and identified as Enterobacter sp. The reintroduction of Z11 into petrochemical wastewater led to a substantial reduction (P < 0.01) in TPHs, decreasing from 8099 to 1723 mg/L, as well as a significant decrease in COD, decreasing from 8064.2 to 1689.2 mg/L. At a critical micelle concentration of 200 mg/L, the biosurfactant synthesized by Z11 exhibited an extraordinary decrease in surface tension from 67.5 to 29 mN/m. The biosurfactant demonstrated favorable surface activity over a wide pH, temperature, and salinity range. Based on a series of chemical analyses, the biosurfactant was classified as phospholipid. The autochthonous bioaugmentation technique developed by Z11 indicated a significant increase (P < 0.05) in the degradation of n-alkanes of varying chain lengths and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The analysis of the microbial composition demonstrated that the addition of Z11 caused a rise in bacterial populations capable of hydrocarbon decomposition, such as Pseudomonas sp. and Stenotrophomonas sp. The activities of two enzymes involved in degradation, alkane hydroxylase and alcohol dehydrogenase, increased dramatically and showed a significant (P < 0.05) correlation with Enterobacter sp. Z11. The proposed mechanism could be elucidated that functional genes regulate the secretion of biodegradation enzymes and biosurfactants to promote the deep degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons. This study provides technical support for the reintroduction of autochthonous microorganisms capable of producing biosurfactants in implementing in situ ABA strategies.

Pre‐Oxidating and Pre‐Carbonizing to Regulate the Composition and Structure of Coal Tar Pitch: The Fabrication of Porous Carbon for Supercapacitor Applications

AbstractThe capacitive properties of supercapacitors highly rely on the reasonable design of high‐performance electrode materials. Herein, a synergetic strategy of pre‐oxidation and pre‐carbonization is proposed to prepare coal tar pitch (CTP) based porous carbon. The formation mechanism of porous carbon is revealed. Pre‐oxidation increases the heteroatom content and promotes the decomposition of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons into small molecules, which is more conducive to improving the subsequent activation and enhancing the microporous specific surface area. Also, the autoclave pre‐carbonization promotes the polymerization of the precursors and increases the carbon yield. Benefiting from the synergistic effect of pre‐oxidation and pre‐carbonation, the obtained carbon exhibits a superior specific capacitance of 365 F g−1. Meanwhile, ZnCl2 is used as a hydrogen‐bonding acceptor to synthesize ZnCl2‐EG/PVA deep eutectic solvent (DES) gel, and it is applicable to acidic, neutral, and alkaline electrolytes. The capacitor assembled with the prepared porous carbon and DES gel electrolyte achieves a high energy density of 41.3 Wh kg−1 and works well in unconventional temperatures (−40–75 °C). This work confirms the effect of pre‐oxidation and pre‐carbonization on the fabrication of CTP‐based carbon material and expects to prepare porous carbon using other pre‐oxidation/carbonization agents.

Study on Ni-based Bead Catalyst for Catalytic Thermal Decomposition of Light Hydrocarbons

Study on Ni-based Bead Catalyst for Catalytic Thermal Decomposition of Light Hydrocarbons

A novel method for predicting the thermal stabilization temperature of organic Rankine cycle system working fluids based on transition state theory

The use of organic working fluids in organic Rankine cycle (ORC) systems may lead to thermal decomposition, which negatively impacts system performance and safety. In this work, a simplified theoretical method based on the transition state theory is proposed to predict the ideal maximum thermal stabilization temperature of organic working fluids. This method involves considering the initial decomposition reaction of the working fluids and calculating the total reaction rate of the initial decomposition. By setting an acceptable decomposition rate, the ideal maximum thermal stabilization temperature of the working fluid can be determined. Using this method, the total reaction rate constants of several typical hydrocarbon, hydrofluorocarbon and siloxane working fluids were obtained in the temperature range of 300∼700 K. The predicted maximum operational temperatures were in good agreement with most experimental results. The branch ratio analyses show that C–C bond cleavage contributed mainly to the decomposition of hydrocarbons, the removal of HF and C–C bond cleavage contributed mainly to that of HFCs, and the Si–C bond cleavage contributed mainly to that of siloxanes. Only considering these main reactions in the reaction rate calculation can greatly reduce calculation cost without significantly impacting the prediction accuracy.

PROCESSING OF LIQUID HIGH-ENERGY PRODUCTS WITH THE PRODUCTION OF GAS MIXTURES OF A GIVEN COMPOSITION

The article considers the problem of using waste as an energy resource. The possibility of processing liquid carbon-containing waste, which is formed during the processing of agricultural products, the use of fats in the food industry and oils in transport, is analyzed. An analysis of the volumes of such waste is presented. It is shown that sunflower processing is accompanied by the formation of about 7,000 tons/year of liquid carbon-containing waste. Technological processes of food industry generate about 1,000 tons of such waste per year. A significant source of waste generation is motor vehicle companies, the total resource of which for the introduction of competitive processing technology is currently about 100,000 tons of olives. A promising resource source for the proposed technology is the process of thermal destruction of used automobile tires, of which 250–300 thousand tons are generated annually in Ukraine. Possibilities of introducing the technology of thermal decomposition of liquid carbon-containing substances of various origins, as components of waste, to create gaseous products of a given composition with further use in the chemical industry and replacement of natural gas are considered. The thermal decomposition of hydrocarbons with stabilization of the process due to the introduction of a high-temperature plasma discharge source into it is among the most promising methods of performing such a task. The results of the development of the methodology for the analytical study of the composition of gaseous fuels are presented. The concept and schematic diagram of the experimental stand are presented. The results of test studies are presented. Bibl. 15, Fig. 5, Tabl. 5.

Cu-promoted Ni-LaCeOx/SBA-15 catalysts for ethanol steam reforming

Hydrogen is a globally recognized high-energy, clean, and ecofriendly fuel that is currently produced by means of electrocatalysis, biomass conversion, coal gasification, and thermal decomposition of hydrocarbons, with the steam reforming showing high potential. The present work is focused on Cu-promoted SBA-15-supported Ni-LaCeOx catalysts for ethanol steam reforming (ESR). The catalysts were prepared by incipient wetness impregnation and characterized by XRF, N2 adsorption-desorption, IR spectroscopy, SAXS, XRD, H2-TPR, Raman, and STA methods. The support features caused by the distribution of LaCeOx NPs and Cu promoter in proper ratios affect the conditions of formation of active dispersed Ni species to determine the catalyst performance and its reducibility. At 800 оС, the NiСu-LaCeOx/SBA-15 (1:1) catalyst demonstrates a 100 % ethanol conversion and 55 % hydrogen yield. Thus, the role of the Cu-containing promoter comprises both a significant decrease of carbon deposits on the catalyst surface and redirecting of the intermediate interactions towards the formation of the desired gaseous products.

Detonation decomposition of hydrocarbons to produce hydrogen

Detonation decomposition of methane, ethane, propane, butane, propylene and ethylene in their mixtures with oxygen was conducted in a pulsed gas detonation device (PGDD) with a goal of obtaining gaseous hydrogen, H2. Chemical reactions occurring behind the detonation front were elaborated for mixtures differing in the oxygen content. The upper concentration limits of detonation corresponding to minimal oxygen contents (maximal fuel contents), at which detonation is still possible, were determined. It was shown that, in order to maximize the hydrogen yield, 15% of acetylene, C2H2, should be added to methane. The productivity of a PGDD device with a barrel of a diameter of 26 mm and a length of 2 m is 3.60, 3.67, 4.25, 4.39, 4.61 and 5.76 kg h−1 of hydrogen when processing methane, ethylene, ethane, propylene, propane and butane, respectively. Upon detonation of mixtures based on ethylene, propylene and butane, along with hydrogen, nanoscale detonation carbon (NDC) is generated at a rate of 6.9, 6.5 and 5.2 kg h−1, respectively. NDC can be used as an additive to metals and polymers to modify their properties. The obtained results are discussed together with data on the production of hydrogen and NDC by detonation decomposition of acetylene previously obtained by the authors.

Efficient Singlet Oxygen Generation via ZIF67@CNT Three-Dimensional Electrodes for Highly Effective Decomposition of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon with Low Energy Consumption

Efficient Singlet Oxygen Generation via ZIF67@CNT Three-Dimensional Electrodes for Highly Effective Decomposition of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon with Low Energy Consumption

Applicability of nickel-based compounds as catalysts for thermal conversion of primary biomass pyrolysis products

The paper discusses the results of an experimental study of the thermal decomposition of pyrolytic tar carried out in isothermal conditions at temperatures of 300, 350 and 400 °C. It was found that the kinetics of this process can be described using the Avrami–Erofeev equation with a variable parameter n. Analysis of the established data showed that the area of variation of this index included values from 0.415 to 1.238. The mean value of the n parameter calculated for all variants of the study was 0.694 (95 % CI from 0.605 to 0.783), and the median value was 0.639. As is known, the Avrami–Erofeev equation describes the kinetics of thermal decomposition of matter in the condensed state, determined by the nucleation process. This suggests that in the case of thermal decomposition of pyrolytic tar in the temperature range 300–400 °С this process is the limiting stage of the total process. The pyrolytic tarn decomposition rate was found to increase in the case of introduction of particles of nickel catalyst developed at the Physical and Technical Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus into the reaction zone. However, only with respect to one sample, it can be confidently stated that this is the result of the catalytic effect of applied nickel catalyst. Based on the established data, it was concluded that it is promising to use a nickel-containing catalyst in the processes of thermal decomposition of heavy hydrocarbons formed in the processes of thermochemical conversion of biomass.

Paper-Derived Carbon Electrodes, a Versatile Option to Develop Electrochemical Sensors

Carbon-based materials are particularly well-suited for electroanalytical applications due to their distinct properties, such as high chemical stability, large electroactive areas, wide electrochemical potential window in aqueous solutions, low electrical resistance, rich surface chemistry, and activity towards a variety of redox reactions. While carbon electrodes can be produced via thermal decomposition of gaseous hydrocarbons followed by their surface-induced recombination, this method is not cost-effective and suffers from both low efficiency (~20%) and limited selectivity towards graphitic forms. Alternatively, carbon electrodes can be developed via pyrolytic treatment of non-volatile substrates. This approach yields carbon materials that are rich in graphitic phases and provides researchers a much richer selection of starting materials and source-to-product efficiencies ~70%. Our team has applied this approach to develop several optically transparent carbon electrodes and has described a method for fabricating carbon electrodes by pyrolysis of paper, using a tube furnace and under a mild reducing atmosphere. The resulting electrodes not only feature the properties of traditional carbon materials but also preserve the 3D structure of the starting material, are mildly hydrophobic, and offer a wide electrochemical window and can be patterned using laser engraving. Moreover, the process also enables the incorporation of metallic nanoparticles within the structure of the material (by pyrolyzing paper pre-soaked in a solution containing the selected cation), significantly improving the conductivity of the material. Thus, this presentation will provide a brief summary of the reactions leading to the fabrication of these substrates as well as discuss the most recent applications towards their use as sensors in microfluidic devices.Special emphasis will be placed on the use of these electrodes for the detection of S. aureus, application that required the modification of the material with a thin layer of sputtered gold (that minimizes lateral resistivity and significantly improves the electron transfer process) and with chitosan (used as a binder to offer flexibility). This biosensor was controlled using a custom-built potentiostat (via a wireless connection), which was used to detect the presence of the bacteria via the oxidation of the ferrocyanide (produced by the bacteria’s respiration cycle) in the presence of mannitol.More information about the group can be found in our web site scienceweb.clemson.edu/uacl/

Decomposition of light hydrocarbons on a Ni-containing glass fiber catalyst

The work is devoted to the study of the novel process of catalytic decomposition of light hydrocarbons on a catalyst at temperatures of 550 °С and 600 °C at various pressures. The CVD process is a new COx-free approach for hydrogen production. A glass fiber fabric was used as a catalyst, which was preliminarily modified by the application of additional outer layers of NiO and porous silica. A technical mixture of propane and butane was used as feedstock. The main purpose is to investigate the effects of pressure and temperature on the production of hydrogen and carbon nanofibers over a glass-based catalyst. As a result of the decomposition of the mixture, the yield of hydrogen was 266–848 L/gcat, and that of carbon nanofibers was 3–10 g/gcat. Increasing the pressure of propane-butane mixture decomposition led to an increase of the catalyst lifetime. The highest yield of hydrogen and carbon nanofibers was achieved at 1 bar and 600 °C.

CHALLENGES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NUMERICAL MODELS FOR METHANE PYROLYSIS WITH LIQUID METAL REACTORS

Methane pyrolysis is a technology that is being postulated as an option within the Hydrogen economy. Pyrolysis allows gaseous hydrocarbons to be processed without directly emitting CO2, as it is carried out in the absence of oxygen, allowing its integration into the circular economy concept by producing two recoverable elements, such as solid carbon and hydrogen. It is currently classified as a form of turquoise hydrogen generation, as it shares characteristics of green hydrogen, as it does not emit carbon dioxide in the process, and blue hydrogen, as its primary resource is natural gas. There are several technological options to carry out the pyrolysis of natural gas, ranging from direct thermolysis, through the use of catalysts, the use of plasma arcs, or the development of hydrocarbon decomposition in liquid reaction media, such as molten salts or liquid metals. This communication will describe the main remains for the development of pyrolysis reactors with liquid metals, which are currently at Technology Readiness Level around TRL4, in order to advance towards industrially viable and competitive prototypes and demonstrators. That development requires creating numerical models that can be used for the engineering design of pyrolysis reactors. The design tools for this case must be capable of coupling multiphase and multicomponent fluid-mechanical evaluation, which takes into account the evolution of a gaseous phase (natural gas) into a liquid phase (liquid metal) with the formation of solids (carbon). The fluid dynamic calculation runs into the lack of experimental data that allow its validation, which becomes a critical aspect to be able to estimate the chemical kinetics of the reaction itself. This kinetics strongly depends on the residence time of the gas in the medium, and on the temperature. In this communication, those relations between the fluid-mechanical and chemical model that would allow the evaluation of the conversion of natural gas to hydrogen and carbon in the design of the reactor are analyzed. As a result, a series of experiments are proposed to validate these design tools for the pyrolysis process in liquid metal. Keywords: Decarbonization, Hydrogen, Circular economy, Carbon

Preparation and inhibition performance of dry water materials for preventing spontaneous combustion of coal

This work aimed to effectively prevent the spontaneous combustion of coal in goafs by preparing a type of dry water material with a solid-in-liquid structure through the mechanical stirring method, with nano-aluminum hydroxide aqueous solution as the core material and hydrophobic nano-silicon dioxide as the wall material. The effects of solid-to-liquid ratio, stirring time, and mass concentration of nano-aluminum hydroxide on the particle size and microstructure of dry water were studied. Results showed that the prepared dry water powder was the most uniform and fine when nano-silica, nano-aluminum hydroxide, and water were mixed at a mass ratio of 5:0.75:49.25 and stirred at a speed of 23,000 r/min for 25 s. The samples were characterized by using a temperature-programmed oxidation device, a thermogravimetric analyzer, and a Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer, and the inhibition performance of dry water was evaluated. Results revealed that dry water effectively slowed the oxidation rate of coal and inhibited the release of CO in the low-temperature environment, and the cross-point temperature increased from 125.1 °C to 155.4 °C for raw coal. In a high-temperature environment, dry water delayed the process of spontaneous combustion of coal, the temperature leading to the maximum mass increased from 308.6 °C to 369.4 °C, and the ignition temperature rose from 458.2 °C to 484.7 °C. In addition, the dry water material can inhibit the oxidative decomposition of aliphatic hydrocarbons and the transformation of oxygen-containing functional groups in coal samples, thus indicating, from a microscopic level, that it has good inhibition performance.

Microwave-catalyzed pyrolysis of waste engine oil using steel slag catalyst: Structure design and insights into the intrinsic mechanism of active catalytic sites and microwave absorption functions

As an industrial waste rich in metal elements, steel slag (SS) has the potential for application as a catalytic material. However, the presence of large amounts of silicates and ferrates is one of the main reasons for the low catalytic properties of SS. In this work, SS was converted into catalysts with multi-metal oxide fractions by regulating the pH of the pretreatment process and using microwave calcination technology. By targeted design of oxygen vacancy (OV) number, specific surface area, and grain size, the steel slag catalyst (SSC) showed catalytic and microwave absorption functions, which could quickly convert waste engine oil (WEO) into light fuel. When the pH of the pretreatment was 8, SSC contained an abundance of metal oxides (such as Fe2O3, Fe3O4, and MnFe2O4), and the specific surface area could reach 237.3 m2/g. The abundant OV defect structure also contributed to the enhanced catalytic properties of the SSC. The light hydrocarbon (C5-C20) composition of the WEO increased from 15.11% to 86.24% at 500℃ in the presence of the bifunctional catalyst. Density functional theory calculations showed that the OV was the key to enhancing the catalytic and microwave absorption functions of the SSC. OV could be used as the activity site to promote the decomposition of heavy hydrocarbons by breaking CH bonds. Meanwhile, defect-induced polarization caused by OV promoted the transfer of carriers in the microwave field, thus enhancing the microwave absorption properties of the catalyst. This work provided a new perspective on the design of bifunctional catalysts for the preparation of microwave pyrolysis.

Large improvement of the tensile strength of carbon nanotube films in harsh wet environments by carbon infiltration

Carbon nanotube (CNT) materials show large degradation in tensile strength when they are exposed in chemically active environments due to the loss of inter-tube bonding. Here, we report the suppression of such degradation by chemical vapor infiltration of amorphous carbon into CNT films. The amorphous carbon generated by the thermal decomposition of the gaseous hydrocarbon of acetylene is firmly bonded on the CNT sidewalls and intersections. Based on the improved inter-tube bonding and restriction of inter-tube sliding, the tensile strength of the film is improved to be 3 times of the original level. More importantly, the bonding is so strong and stable that the high tensile strength remains with little loss even in harsh wet environments such as boiling alcoholic, acidic, alkaline solutions and seawater. Such harsh environments-tolerant properties, which were rarely observed before, could open new windows for the CNT/C composite material to be applied from functional devices to structural components under extreme corrosive conditions.

Experimental characterization of TIAGO torch discharges: surface wave discharge behavior and (post-)discharge kinetics

The Torche à Injection Axial sur Guide d’Ondes source—better-known as the TIAGO torch—is a particular type of microwave-induced plasma that has become a focus of technological and scientific interest due to its outstanding features. Moreover, the TIAGO torch device arouses interest thanks to its remarkable performance in many challenging areas, such as green energy generation and graphene production by hydrocarbon decomposition. Although it has not been experimentally demonstrated to date, discharges generated by a TIAGO torch have been theoretically predicted to be surface wave discharges (SWDs), a kind of plasma leading the development of new materials. Therefore, deeper and fundamental research on this device is needed to optimize the implementation of plasma technology in these fields. In this study, the axial distribution of gas temperature, electron density and intensity of the main atomic and molecular emissions have been studied by optical emission spectroscopy when feeding the discharge with different input power values (200, 400 and 600 W). A complete axial characterization of both the dart and the plume regions is depicted and, according to the data obtained for the main plasma parameters, different regions can be identified, with the radiation zone being reported for the first time at atmospheric pressure. The kinetics of both the dart and the plume are discussed and an experimental verification of TIAGO torch behavior as a SWD is presented for the first time.