Thermal stability of n-pentane, cyclo-pentane and toluene as working fluids in organic Rankine engines

As to the three hydrocarbons considered, the cyclo-pentane results thermally very stable: at 350 °C, after eighty hours, the rate of decomposition is about twenty times lower than the corresponding value for n-pentane. The toluene sample remains remarkably stable at higher temperatures, confirming its potential application in the so-called high temperature Rankine cycles: at 400 °C the rate of decomposition is the same of that of n-pentane at 315 °C and of that of cyclo-pentane at 375 °C.