Effects and Roles of Air Feed On the Noncatalytic Gasification of Jet Fuel in Supercritical Water

The air oxidation of jet fuel can be beneficially incorporated in the novel supercritical water reformation. This paper experimentally and comparatively examines the roles of the concurrent oxidation reactions on the overall process chemistry, and specifically the effect of air feed position. The effect of air feed position, either at the inlet of the 48-inch long tubular reactor where the water/fuel mixture also enters, or a mid-reactor feed position 21.8” downstream from this point, on the noncatalytic reformation of jet fuel was evaluated using a tubular 0.4-L Haynes® Alloy 230 supercritical water reactor. The temperature, pressure and water-to-fuel ratio were kept nominally identical, while the air feed position and air flow rate were varied in order to elucidate its effect on reformation. Over the conditions examined, the mid-reactor air feed achieved higher hydrogen and carbon dioxide yields than the inlet air feed position for the same air feed rates, while the carbon conversion and methane yield for both feed positions was similar. The result indicates that the air feed position has little effect over the pyrolysis reaction while the mid-reactor air feed enhances the oxidation and water gas shift reactions more than the inlet air feed.