Supercritical Fuel Pyrolysis
Abstract
The fuels used in the next generation of hypersonic aircraft will have to operate under very high pressures (beyond the critical pressures of most hydrocarbons) and will have to sustain very high heat loads in order to meet aircraft cooling requirements. Critical to the development of the fuel systems in these aircraft is an understanding of the fuel pyrolysis reaction mechanisms under the conditions that the fuels will be operating. Of particular interest are the reactions leading to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), which can serve as precursors to fuel-line deposits [3,4], a problem of critical importance to avoid, for safe aircraft operation. In order to better elucidate the mechanisms and kinetics of the reactions of fuel pyrolysis and PAH formation under supercritical conditions, pyrolysis experiments are being conducted, under the present research program, with model fuels at temperatures of 300-600 C, pressures of 20-100 atm, and residence times of 30-1000 sec. The model fuels include the jet fuel components toluene, 1-methylnaphthalene, and mixtures of toluene and n-heptane-as well as the "endothermic" fuel methylcyclohexane. The supercritical pyrolysis experiments are conducted in an isothermal silica-lined stainless-steel coil reactor specially designed [4,5] for such experiments, and PAH reaction products are analyzed by high-pressure liquid chromatography with diode-array ultraviolet-visible absorbance and mass spectrometric detection (HPLC/UV/MS), an isomer-specific technique ideally suited for the analysis of PAH [6]. It is anticipated that the results from this research will provide information of critical importance to the design and development of fuel systems for high-speed aircraft.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADP023632
Entities
People
- Mary J. Wornat
Organizations
- Louisiana State University