Analysis of products of high-temperature pyrolysis of various hydrocarbons Original Research Article

Ethane, ethylene, acetylene, propane and neopentane have been pyrolyzed at 1173 K, and methane at 1372 K in a flow system, and the volatile pyrolysis products analyzed. Eleven aromatic hydrocarbons, containing 14 or fewer carbon atoms, accounted for 98 + % of the liquid products recovered in each case. Benzene was the main product, followed by naphthalene. No compounds with branched chains or multiple substituents were present, and compounds containing even numbers of carbons comprised 93–99% of each mixture. Acetylene was a major component of the gaseous effluent from each of the initial hydrocarbons. The effect of temperature on the composition of the gaseous effluent during pyrolysis of methane, ethane and ethylene was determined. Carbon film deposition from methane commenced at about 1273 K; from ethane at 1015 K and from ethylene at 1100 K, in each instance coinciding with the appearance of acetylene in the effluent. As the temperature was raised, at first the increase in the rate of carbon deposition closely followed the increase in the concentration of acetylene in the effluent. It is proposed that acetylene may be a common factor in the pyrolysis of aliphatic hydrocarbons, perhaps acting as the precursor of both surface carbon and aromatic hydrocarbons by a process of head-to-tail linkage of two-carbon units at active surface sites to form chains that then undergo dehydrogenation to carbon or cyclization and desorption as aromatic species.