Nonisothermal effects in the process of soot formation in ethylene pyrolysis behind shock waves

The nonisothermal nature of hydrocarbon pyrolysis explains the differences in the critical temperatures of soot formation in the experimental studies of these processes. When reaction heats are taken into account, the critica l temperatures become close to 1600 K for all the systems studied. The esti mated standard enthalpy of carbon atom formation in the composition of soot particles is Delta H-f,H-Z approximate to 11 +/- 6 kJ/mol. A kinetic model is proposed for soot formation in ethylene pyrolysis that describes the ex perimental data. The calculated temperature of soot particles may differ su bstantially depending on the choice of a model for energy exchange in colli sions.