Pyrolysis of 2-methyl-1-butanol at low and atmospheric pressures: Mass spectrometry and modeling studies

In order to better understand the high temperature chemistry of large alcohol containing 5 carbon atoms, the pyrolysis of 2-methyl-1-butanol from 750 to 1400 K was investigated in a flow reactor at the pressures of 30 and 760 Torr. About 25 pyrolysis species including some radicals and reactive intermediates were identified and quantified using synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry. A kinetic model with 177 species and 994 reactions was developed and tested by the measured mole fraction profiles of pyrolysis species. Rate of production (ROP) and sensitivity analysis were used to reveal the decomposition characters of 2-methyl-1-butanol and the effect of pressure. Compared with butanol isomers, the contributions of unimolecular reactions in 2-methyl-1-butanol are much lower than H abstraction reactions, which shows a similar decomposition rule to i-butanol rather than 1-butanol.