An Experimental Study of Fuel Decomposition and Hydrocarbon Growth Processes in Laminar Non-premixed Methane Air Coflow Flames Doped with Seven Pentanol Isomers

摘要

Pentanols are important "next generation" alcohol fuels derived from biomass that have attracted interest recently as potential alternative fuels in combustion engines. They are especially useful in attempting to understand the relationship between fuel isomeric structure and dominant reaction pathways in oxygenated hydrocarbons owing to the large number of isomers available. The objective of this study is to identify the effect of the structure of seven pentanol isomers on the dominant fuel consumption and soot formation pathways in nonpremixed diffusion flames. In the experiments reported here, axisymmetric coflowing nonpremixed atmospheric pressure laminar methane/air flames were separately doped with 1200 ppm each of seven pentanol isomers. Concentrations of C3 to C12 hydrocarbon products along the flame centerline were measured through extractive gas sampling and online electron-impact and photoionization mass spectrometry. Hydrocarbon product profiles varied considerably across different isomer doped flames, and were used to analyze isomeric structure-dependent reaction pathways.