Thermodynamic properties and detailed chemical kinetic models have been developed for the combustion of two oxygenates: methyl butanoate, a model compound for biodiesel fuels, and methyl formate, a related simpler molecule. Bond additivity methods and rules for estimating kinetic parameters were adopted from hydrocarbon combustion and extended. The resulting mechanisms have been tested against the limited combustion data available in the literature, which was obtained at low temperature, subatmospheric conditions in closed vessels, using pressure measurements as the main diagnostic. Some qualitative agreement was obtained, but the experimental data consistently indicated lower overall reactivities than the model, differing by factors of 10 to 50. This discrepancy, which occurs for species with well-established kinetic mechanisms as well as for methyl esters, is tentatively ascribed to the presence of wall reactions in the experiments. The model predicts a region of weak or negative dependence of overall reaction rate on temperature for each methyl ester. Examination of the reaction fluxes provides an explanation of this behavior, involving a temperature-dependent competition between chain-propagating unimolecular decomposition processes and chain-branching processes, similar to that accepted for hydrocarbons. There is an urgent need to obtain more complete experimental data under well-characterized conditions for thorough testing of the model.

This overview compiles the on-going research in Europe to enlarge and deepen the understanding of the reaction mechanisms and pathways associated with the combustion of an increased range of fuels. Focus is given to the formation of a large number of hazardous minor pollutants and the inability of current combustion models to predict the formation of minor products such as alkenes, dienes, aromatics, aldehydes and soot nano-particles which have a deleterious impact on both the environment and on human health. Cleaner Combustion describes, at a fundamental level, the reactive chemistry of minor pollutants within extensively validated detailed mechanisms for traditional fuels, but also innovative surrogates, describing the complex chemistry of new environmentally important bio-fuels. Divided into five sections, a broad yet detailed coverage of related research is provided. Beginning with the development of detailed kinetic mechanisms, chapters go on to explore techniques to obtain reliable experimental data, soot and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, mechanism reduction and uncertainty analysis, and elementary reactions. This comprehensive coverage of current research provides a solid foundation for researchers, managers, policy makers and industry operators working in or developing this innovative and globally relevant field.

A detailed chemical kinetic model is developed and tested for the combustion of C2 and C3 oxygenated fuels such as ethanol, DME (dimethyl ether), acetone and n-propanol. It is validated by comparing predictions with experimental data on the structure of low pressure burner stabilised premixed flames and laminar burning velocities over a wide range of equivalence ratios. Data from shock tube and stirred reactor studies has also been considered. The elementary reactions of ethanol and DME oxidation have been studied extensively and were used as a starting point for extension to C3 oxygenated fuels. The chemistry of acetylene which is one of major intermediate species in higher hydrocarbon flames was also updated to improve the reliability of the present mechanism and acetylene laminar burning velocities and low-pressure premixed lean and rich flames were also computed. The detailed mechanism features more than 1500 reaction steps and 269 species. The structure of laminar premixed flames are predicted by using measured temperature profiles and conditions cover fuel-lean and fuel-rich mixtures at low pressure. The profiles of reactants, products and major intermediate species are compared to experimental data from mass spectrometry and the overall agreement between the kinetic model and experimental data is satisfactory. An analytic study of fuel consumption pathways is carried out to understand the detailed consumption pathways. The present mechanism is also tested against laminar flame speeds by calculating freely propagating premixed flames to extend the understanding of the combustion characteristics of oxygenated fuels. A sensitivity analysis is also performed.

Work supported by the Office of Standard Reference Data, National Bureau of Standards, Naval Sea Systems Command, Department of the Navy, and Division of Conservation, Research and Technology, Energy Research and Development Administration.

In general, combustion is a spatially three-dimensional, highly complex physi co-chemical process oftransient nature. Models are therefore needed that sim to such a degree that it becomes amenable plify a given combustion problem to theoretical or numerical analysis but that are not so restrictive as to distort the underlying physics or chemistry. In particular, in view of worldwide efforts to conserve energy and to control pollutant formation, models of combustion chemistry are needed that are sufficiently accurate to allow confident predic tions of flame structures. Reduced kinetic mechanisms, which are the topic of the present book, represent such combustion-chemistry models. Historically combustion chemistry was first described as a global one-step reaction in which fuel and oxidizer react to form a single product. Even when detailed mechanisms ofelementary reactions became available, empirical one step kinetic approximations were needed in order to make problems amenable to theoretical analysis. This situation began to change inthe early 1970s when computing facilities became more powerful and more widely available, thereby facilitating numerical analysis of relatively simple combustion problems, typi cally steady one-dimensional flames, with moderately detailed mechanisms of elementary reactions. However, even on the fastest and most powerful com puters available today, numerical simulations of, say, laminar, steady, three dimensional reacting flows with reasonably detailed and hence realistic ki netic mechanisms of elementary reactions are not possible.

Gas Phase Combustion