A conceptual model for soot formation in pyrolysis of aromatic hydrocarbons

✍ Scribed by M. Frenklach; S. Taki; R.A. Matula

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1983
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 558 KB
• Volume: 49
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0010-2180
• DOI: 10.1016/0010-2180(83)90170-0

✦ Synopsis

Soot formation in toluene--argon mixtures has been investigated behind reflected shock waves b~( monitoring attenuation of a laser beam in both the visible (632.8nm) and the infrared (3.39/~m) regions of the spectrum. The experiments were carded out at nearly constant total carbon atom'concentration over temperature and pressure ranges of approximately 1500-2300K and 0.03--0.3 MPa, respectively. The experimental data indicate that there is a strong pressure effect on soot formation at lower pressures. The bell-shaped dependence of soot conversion on temperature shifts toward higher temperatures with decreasing pressure. The-observed phenomenon can not be rationalized within Graham's model. A new conceptual model for soot formation is proposed that not only explains the current results but also unifies the various experimental facts which previously had been considered tO be contradictory. The ratio of induction times for soot appearance in the visible and infrared regions was observed to be approximately constant over a wide temperature range, which is also in harmony with the proposed model.