Microplasma ball reactor for JP-8 liquid hydrocarbon conversion to lighter fuels

•A microplasma ball reactor is used to convert the JP-8 into the gaseous products.•Study of produced gases by JP-8 processing with specific energy input is discussed.•The gas product yields were analyzed and compared with other processes.•The nano-sec pulses and controlled energy per pulse are the key features of reactor. Non-equilibrium microplasma technology is used as a non-conventional processing tool to attain fuel conversion efficiency. The microplasma was generated in a reactor with metal balls bouncing between parallel electrodes allowing energy control in a discharge. The released energy, in the range of 20–100 μJ per discharge initiates chain scission reactions to generate shorter chain hydrocarbons. The system consists of 300 reactors and is scaled and optimized to maximize power density while maintaining high efficiency for applications to Jet Propellant 8 (JP-8) fuel. Experiments demonstrate the ability of controlled chemistry (JP-8 to lighter hydrocarbons fuel conversion) without allowing excessive heat and carbon production. Analysis of gas products produced by JP-8 processing with specific energy input of 1450 kJ/kg demonstrates product distributions of 20.9%, 39.4%, 31.7%, 2.5%, 3.5% 1.3% by mass of H2, CH4, C2H4, C2H6, C3H6, C3H8 respectively and is 1.64% of the initial JP-8 mass (24 g). Soot production is only 0.07% of the JP-8 mass that results in a 35:1 product selectivity of gaseous compounds to soot. Calculated gas product yields of 11.7, 2.2, 0.99, 0.07, 0.07 and 0.02 molecules/100 eV for H2, CH4, C2H4, C2H6, C3H6, C3H8 respectively were observed and are generally higher than existing non-equilibrium processing technology.