Kinetic Study of the Reformation of Military Logistic Fuel (Jp-8) in Supercritical Water

A global first-order kinetic study was conducted for the supercritical water gasification of jet fuel. Experiments were performed non-catalytically in a continuous mode of operation using supercritical water in a specially designed 100 mL Haynes 282 tubular reactor at temperatures varying from 770 to 1050 K and at a pressure of 24.26 ± 0.05 MPa. The kinetics of this process were modeled as three reactions in series: pyrolysis of the jet fuel, reformation of the smaller pyrolysis fractions, and the subsequent forward water gas shift of the resulting carbon monoxide. Global first order kinetics were assumed throughout. Using a first-order Arrhenius plot, the activation energy and frequency factor was determined for each of the three reactions. In this paper, the chemical kinetics of this novel process were elucidated based on the experimental data. The percentage of carbon converted to gas was the highest, 69%, at the highest temperature of 1050K, as were the methane, hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide yields