Direct Hydrocarbon Upgrade from n-Hexane, n-Octane, and n-Decane Using a Microsecond Pulsed Dielectric Barrier Discharge Non-Thermal Plasma

Abstract

Conventional chemical processing methods, employed for transforming hydrocarbon mixtures into more valuable forms, are known to consume high amounts of energy and produce a substantial amount of greenhouse gas emissions. This paper investigates an alternative approach employing non-thermal plasma, in a controlled temperature environment, to synthesize higher-order hydrocarbons. The method examined in this paper, has the potential to reduce energy requirements and mitigate CO2 emissions. Effects of temperature and hydrocarbon chain length on liquid and gas production efficiency are studied. A comparative analysis of the different hydrocarbons as reactants underscores the promising attributes of n-octane in this application. With the proposed reactor configuration, the highest average liquid production efficiency was found in n-octane at 20ºC. Organic compounds with carbon chain lengths as large as 20 carbons where successfully synthesized in the reactor configuration when using decane as the reactant. The observed trends alluded to different chemical reaction pathways being prevalent in different temperature conditions.