Acetylene is one basic raw material for the production of valuable chemicals. The non oxidative pyrolysis of hydrocarbons in plasma arc provides one direct way to produce acetylene. In this work, the propane pyrolysis was simulated by a plug flow reactor model, and the model was validated by the experimental data of a pilot-scale magnetically rotating hydrogen plasma reactor. Effects of H/C ratio and energy input were investigated. The propane pyrolysis was an ultra-fast process and completed with less than 1.0 ms. The acetylene yield was affected by both the reaction temperature and the carbon black produced from the degradation of the acetylene. The CH4 yield decreased dramatically with the increase in temperature, which was consistent with results of the thermodynamic equilibrium analysis. The calculated value of the kinetic model correlated well with the experimental data, and the mathematical model was proved to be a viable way to study the plasma pyrolysis process. (C) 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.