Microwave Pyrolysis of C6 Non-aromatic Hydrocarbons Apple Jamjumras and Suksun Amornraksa + Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, The Sirindthorn International Thai-German Graduate School of Engineering, King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Thailand Abstract. C6 non-aromatic hydrocarbons obtained from olefins plant was used as a feedstock in microwave pyrolysis. The experiment was carried out in a microwave reactor over an activated carbon, which acts as a microwave receptor. Operating temperature (from 500 to 700 ºC), controlled by power of microwave reactor, was varied to observe the consequence on the pyrolysis products. The chemical composition and product yield of the pyrolysis products (liquid oil and gas) were analyzed by using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The results indicated that microwave pyrolysis has the potential to upgrade low value hydrocarbons into high value products. The recovered liquid and gaseous pyrolysis products contained various hydrocarbons which could be used as a valuable industrial feedstock. Keywords: Microwave, Microwave Pyrolysis, C6 Non-aromatic, Hydrocarbons. 1. Introduction Chemical industries have rapidly grown up, especially petrochemical industry. The products derived from the petrochemical industry are generally used as a raw material for many downstream industries to supply the increasing demand for synthetic products and daily life products. Hydrocarbons such as LPG, naphtha, and condensate, are typically used as raw material in the upstream petrochemical industry where olefins products such as ethylene and propylene are produced. Pyrolysis is conventionally and widely used as a thermal conversion process to convert the hydrocarbons feed into the olefins products [1, 2]. The process, also known as thermal cracking, takes place at a high temperature in the absence of oxygen. After passing a pyrolysis chamber, heavy hydrocarbons feed will be broken down into lighter molecules. In addition to the olefins products, several mixed hydrocarbon by-products are also produced. Some of these by-products are normally separated and sold to other users at low price. Often, they are sent back to the pyrolysis chamber as a recycle stream. Due to the strong competitiveness of petrochemical business, the utilization of by-products from the manufacture is very crucial. It is more desirable to upgrade by-products by turning them into more valuable products rather than being used as the recycle stream. Furthermore, in the conventional pyrolysis, there is large amount of energy losses during the heat transfer from a heat source to the raw material in the pyrolysis chamber. Also, the pyrolysis can promote undesired by-products. According to energy concern and recent pollution problems, novel production technologies that are more efficient, consume less energy, and able to upgrade the low-valued products have been substantially sought and developed. Microwave pyrolysis is a relatively new technique which provides many advantages over conventional pyrolysis process. It is extremely efficient method in selective heating of materials as the energy can be transferred directly to the material [2, 3, 4]. This results in less energy consumption, process time saving and more environmental friendly. In addition, the use of microwave in hydrocarbon conversion has a high potential to produce new hydrocarbon products and also reduce unwanted side reaction that usually occurs in the conventional processes. In recent years, the use of microwave pyrolysis has been employed in the + Corresponding author. Tel.: + 66 (0)2 555 2000 Ext.2928. E-mail address: suksuna@kmutnb.ac.th 2012 4th International Conference on Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering IPCBEE vol.43 (2012) © (2012) IACSIT Press, Singapore DOI: 10.7763/IPCBEE. 2012. V43. 6 26