Fundamental Studies of the Catalytic Ignition Process; Final rept. for Aug 06-07 Aug

摘要

This project supported development of catalytic igniters for environmentally friendly alternative fuels such as aqueous ethanol. This report describes the installation, calibration and preliminary testing of a catalytic plug-flow reactor after the new laboratory's electrical and plumbing upgrades were completed. The reactor was moved from Moscow, Idaho, to the new laboratories in Boise, Idaho. We calibrated a hot wire anemometer, used the anemometer to remeasure the plug-flow region of the reactor, and began testing and modeling of a platinum (Pt) wire catalyst exposed to a lean propane-oxygen-nitrogen mixtures. The methods used for the ALGOR modeling yield fairly accurate results. It is interesting to see the model slight over predict temperature at lower flow and slightly under predict temperature at higher flow. The maximum difference between the results is less than 12 degrees, which gives them an accuracy rate within 2.6 percent.