Detailed chemical kinetics study of the role of pressure in butane pyrolysis

This paper reports on a detailed free-radical kinetic model that has been developed to represent the pyrolysis of n-butane and has been used to study the role of pressure on the pyrolysis. THe temperature range covered is from 200 to 600{degrees}C with pressures from 1 to 1000 atm. Simulations were conducted for isothermal, isobaric, homogeneous systems with pure n-butane as the initial reactant. At high temperature, increasing the pressure increases the decomposition rate of butane, as well as increasing the breadth of the carbon number distribution and decreasing the olefins content. Model results agree well with the literature. At low temperature, the rate of decomposition of butane is inhibited by increasing pressures until relatively high pressures, above 100 atm, when the rate increases with higher pressures. Increased pressures at lower temperatures also favor larger products and fewer olefins, but different mechanistic pathways control the decomposition.