Furans are under active consideration as 2nd generation biofuels. We have studied the thermal cracking of furan-d0 and furan-d4 in a CW, heated microtubular (�tubular) reactor. This device is a 0.6 mm i.d. x 2 cm long SiC tube that can be heated to temperatures up to 1800 K. A dilute sample (0.01%) of the furan is mixed with He as a carrier gas and passed through the heated SiC tube. Gases exiting the �tubular reactor emerge in an under-expanded jet at roughly 10-5 Torr. The translational, vibrational, and rotational temperatures drop rapidly within a few nozzle diameters and all chemistry ceases. The thermal decomposition products are identified by their photoionization mass spectra as well as their matrix infrared absorption spectra. We observe the initial products of furan pyrolysis to be CO, CH3CCH, CH2=C=O, HCCH, HCCCH2 and H. By means of the synchrotron at LBNL's Advanced Light Source, we have measured the branching ratios of the three decomposition channels.

Dynamics of furan pyrolysis in a microtubular reactor

245th National Meeting (2013)

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