A Study on Formaldehyde and Acetaldehyde Reactions in Supercritical Water

Abstract

Over-abundance of glycerin from biodiesel production has led to numerous studies on ways to convert and utilize glycerin. One technique employed is to decompose glycerin in a supercritical water medium. This can result in valuable intermediate chemicals or complete gasification of glycerin into syngas. To effectively use this process, a complete and comprehensive understanding of the reaction pathway and kinetics of the decomposition of glycerin is desired. Two of the intermediate compounds produced during glycerin decomposition in supercritical water are formaldehyde and acetaldehyde. This study was carried out to elucidate the various mechanistic reactions of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde in supercritical water. Experiments were conducted non-catalytically in a continuous, 0.1 L Haynes® 282® alloy reactor at 22.4 MPa. Temperatures of 500°C to 700°C were investigated at a feed water-to-carbon molar ratio of 5:1 and a space time of 45 seconds.

Meeting Name

2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Meeting (2012: Oct. 28-Nov. 2, Pittsburgh, PA)

Department(s)

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Document Type

Article - Conference proceedings

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

02 Nov 2011

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