Dielectric barrier discharge plasma torch treatment of pyrolysis fuel oil in presence of methane and ethane

•Petrochemical heavy fuel oils were processed by DBD torch for the first time.•Effects of working gas flow, various ratios of working gas, and different working gases were considered.•With increasing working gas flow, hydrocarbons production will be increased.•With increasing ratio of the working gas, the hydrocarbons production will be decreased.•Using Ethane vs. Methane, as working gas, provides more hydrocarbons production.

For the first time, atmospheric-pressure low-temperature plasma treatment of pyrolysis fuel oil (PFO) was investigated in dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma torch reactor. Main parameters including working gas flow rate and Ar/CH4 ratio along with the effects of separate Ar/C2H6 on the cracking of PFO were studied. By increasing the flow of argon and methane, the production rate of hydrocarbons containing ethane, ethylene, acetylene, propane, propylene, C4, and C5 increased from 1.72 to 10.48 ml/min for 4000 ml/min argon plus 400 ml/min methane as the working gas. In this case, the production rate of hydrogen increases from 10.58 to 56.86. The production rate of hydrocarbons increased from 3.53 to 13.5 ml/min by decreasing Ar/CH4 ratio from 40 to 5.6. By changing the type of working gas from methane to ethane, the production of hydrocarbons considerably increased from 6.47 to 17.75 ml/min.