The Production of Hydrogen and Olefin Hydrocarbons by Electrical Discharge in Liquid Fuels

摘要

Biofuels such as bio-generated ethanol are an attractive renewable energy source. In addition to ethanol, liquid fuels such as diesel or gasoline could also serve as a source of hydrocarbons and hydrogen which are commonly used for flue gas treatment in selective catalytic reduction (SCR) reactors. The main goal of the present research is to study the production of hydrogen from liquid ethanol, iso-octane and hexadecane in an electrical discharge and to identify and quantify all the gaseous by-products. This hydrogen rich mixture could be used as a reluctant in the process of exhaust gas treatments, as a fuel resource or as a reactant for fuel cells, among other potential uses. Results have shown that electrical discharges in liquid hydrocarbons and ethanol give hydrogen, methane, acetylene, ethylene, and hydrogen cyanide as the main decomposition by-products. In the case of ethanol, carbon monoxide is also formed.