High-Temperature Pyrolysis of Toluene

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/j100292a034

The thermal decomposition of toluene has been investigated by two independent shock tube techniques: time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry and laser-schlieren densitometry.These studies cover the temperature range 1550-2200 K for pressures 0.2-0.5 atm.C2H2, C4H2, CH4, and C7H7 were identified as major species along with lesser amounts of C2H4, C6H2, and C6H6.The laser-schlieren profiles require a dominance by CC scission to phenyl and methyl with a rate constant log k (s^-1) = 12.95-72.6 (kcal)/2.3RT for 1600-2100 K and 0.5 atm..Such dominance is also required to produce the methane seen in the TOF spectra.A mechanism is proposed which provides an excellent description of density gradient and major species concentration profiles over this range.