Chemical Additives for Maximizing Fuel Reactivity

摘要

Report developed under SBIR contract for topic AF99-221. The objective of the project is to demonstrate the feasibility of a modeling based search for chemical additives which can reduce soot formation in fuel systems of interest to the Air Force. Several mechanisms of soot reduction in the presence of additives were considered by kinetic modeling. Modeling identified homogeneous catalysis as the most effective mechanism of soot supression. Modeling showed that under optimum conditions, soot could be reduced by 95+% when the amount of additive is 5% of fuel. A series of shock tube experiments were performed to validate modeling predictions. Three potential soot-reducing additives were tested: isopropyl, nitrate, methanol, and sodium carbonate. The experiments confirmed that additives acting through the mechanism of homogeneous catalysis significantly suppress soot formation.