Before being subjected to combustion, fuel for future high-speed aircraft will act as the coolant to remove excess heat from engine components. This role will require the fuel to sustain temperatures and pressures as high as 700 oC and 130 atm, conditions that are supercritical for jet fuels as well as most hydrocarbons. Such extreme conditions cause the fuel to undergo pyrolytic reactions that lead to the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), which are precursors to fuel-line carbonaceous solid deposits that can hinder the aircraft’s safe operation. Therefore, understanding the formation pathways of PAH under supercritical conditions is important to prevent the formation of these fuel-line deposits. A major component in elucidating the reaction mechanisms of PAH formation is the isomer- specific identification of PAH products formed in the supercritical fuel pyrolysis environment. For this purpose, we have employed a two-dimensional high-pressure liquid chromatographic technique to separate the highly complex PAH product mixtures produced from the supercritical pyrolysis experiments (conducted in an isothermal and isobaric silica lined stainless steel tubular flow reactor) of the two model fuels, n-decane and 1-octene. The PAH products are then analyzed by ultraviolet-visible diode-array detection and mass spectrometry detection. The UV and mass spectra establishing the identities of methyl-substituted isomers of five-ring C20H12 PAH products resulting from these analyses will be discussed in detail.

Identification of methyl-substituted isomers of five-ring C20H12 PAH products from the supercritical pyrolysis of n-decane and 1-octene

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.