High-Pressure Liquid Chromatograph with Mass Spectrometric Detection for Analysis of Supercritical Fuels Pyrolysis Products

摘要

A high-pressure liquid chromatograph with ultraviolet-visible diode- array detection and mass spectrometer (HPLC/UV/MS), purchased with DURIP funds, was used to analyze polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) produced in supercritical pyrolysis experiments with the model fuels 1-methylnaphthalene and toluene. The HPLC/UV/MS instrument facilitated the identification of fifteen 5- to 9-ring PAH from supercritical 1-methylnaphthalene pyrolysis and five 7- to 9-ring PAH from supercritical toluene pyrolysis none of which had ever before been identified as products of these fuels. Most of the newly identified products were large PAH thought to be intermediates in the formation of carbonaceous solids. The new PAH product identifications, along with determination of which PAH were not formed, contributed to the elucidation of radical reaction pathways responsible for PAH formation from aromatic fuels in the supercritical pyrolysis environment. Use of the HPLC/UV/MS instrument in the analysis of a stressed Fischer-Tropsch synthetic jet fuel sample from United Technologies Research Center led to the identification of fifteen 6- to 10-ring PAH, not previously identified by HPLC/UV alone four of which had never before been unequivocally identified in the products of any fuel in any context.