Decomposition of a gas mixture of four n-alkanes using a DBD reactor

This study investigates the decomposition of a gas mixture of four n-alkanes (n-heptane, n-octane, n-nonane, and n-decane) using a dielectric barrier discharge reactor. We show that the conversion of n-alkanes increased from 7.2% (C₇H₁₆), 9.7% (C₈H₁₈), 8.4% (C₉H₂₀), and 10.5% (C₁₀H₂₂) to 23.8% (C₇H₁₆), 25.0% (C₈H₁₈), 27.9% (C₉H₂₀), and 32.1% (C₁₀H₂₂) when the energy density increased from 84 J l⁻¹ to 324 J l⁻¹. The conversion of n-alkanes when using the gas mixture is close to that found when using a single n-alkane. The influences of reaction temperature and O₂ concentration are also investigated, and the activation energies for the decomposition of each alkane are given.