Steam pyrolysis of tetrabutyldiglycolamide: Part-II: Reaction network kinetic modelling

•An inclusive reaction network model for the steam pyrolysis of TBDGA.•Mathematical modelling of steam pyrolysis process for simultaneous estimation of kinetic parameters of all reactions as function of temperature.•Representation by the reaction network model's predictive ability for the pyrolysis reactor.

A Reaction Network model of 16 series-parallel reactions involving total 19 components is developed to represent the steam pyrolysis of tetrabutyldiglycolamide, a tridentate extractant used for selective extraction of actinides and lanthanides in nuclear industry, in a continuous tubular reactor. The kinetic parameters of the entire reaction network were optimized simultaneously and validated against the set of experimental results at different operating conditions. The reaction network model was successfully used for simulation of the pyrolytic reactor in General Process Modelling (gPROM) environment. The steam pyrolysis provides an efficient waste management method in nuclear as well as other industries treating concentrated organics waste streams that leaves no solid residue.