Experimental study of n-decane decomposition with microsecond pulsed discharge plasma

A highly-integrated experimental system for the plasma decomposition of fuels was built. Experiments were conducted in a flow reactor at atmospheric pressure and confirmed that n-decane could be cracked by large-gap dielectric barrier discharge under the excitation of a microsecond-pulse power supply. Alkanes and olefins with a C atom number that is smaller than 10 as well as hydrogen were found in the cracked products of n-decane (n-C₁₀H₂₂). The combination of preheating and plasma decomposition had strong selectivity for olefins. Under strong discharge conditions, small molecule olefins were found in the products. Moreover, there was a general tendency that small molecule olefins gradually accounted for higher percentage of products at higher temperature and discharge frequency.