Improvement of the Performance of Carbon Smoke Generators by the Choice of Fuels and Fuel Additives

摘要

An experimental investigation was conducted of the improvement in performance of a simple carbon smoke generator, employing a hydrocarbon fuel and air as oxidizer, that could be obtained by appropriate choice of fuels and of various additives to the fuels. The smoke yield of pure hydrocarbons, defined as the weight of carbonaceous smoke recovered per unit weight of carbon in the fuel burned, varied widely among the hydrocarbons tested, the extremes differing by a factor of 15. The smoke yields of most of the hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon derivatives correlated well with their strength as carbon acids, i.e., their tendency to dissociate to form carbanions. Strong Lewis-acids and bases and halogen - containing flame inhibitors, as additives, increased the smoke yield of hydrocarbons. Oxygen-enrichment of the air supply to the burner was found to cause the smoke yield of benzene to approximately double in value. The smoke yield of cyclopentadiene increased 50 percent when supplied with oxygen-enriched air, but the effect was modest or negligible in the case of other hydrocarbons tested. (Author)