Experimental and numerical study of product gas and N2O emission characteristics of ammonia/hydrogen/air premixed laminar flames stabilized in a stagnation flow

In order to achieve carbon neutrality, the use of ammonia as a fuel for power generation is highly anticipated. The utilization of a binary fuel consisting of ammonia and hydrogen can address the weak flame characteristics of ammonia. In this study, the product gas characteristics of ammonia/hydrogen/air premixed laminar flames stabilized in a stagnation flow were experimentally and numerically investigated for various equivalence ratios for the first time. A trade-off relationship between NO and unburnt ammonia was observed at slightly rich conditions. At lean conditions, NO reached a maximum value of 8,700 ppm, which was larger than that of pure ammonia/air flames. The mole fraction of nitrous oxide (N₂O) which has large global warming potential rapidly increased around the equivalence ratio of 0.6, which was attributed to the effect of a decrease in flame temperature downstream of the reaction zone owing to heat loss to the stagnation wall. To understand this effect further, numerical simulations of ammonia/hydrogen/air flames were conducted using the stagnation flame model for various equivalence ratios and stagnation wall temperatures. The results show that the important reactions for N₂O production and reductions are NH +NO = N₂O + H, N₂O + H = N₂ + OH, and N₂O (+M) = N₂ + O (+M). A decrease in flame temperature in the post flame region inhibited N₂O reduction through N₂O (+M) = N₂ + O (+M) because this reaction has a large temperature dependence, and thus N₂O was detected as a product gas. N₂O is reduced through N₂O (+M) = N₂ + O (+M) in the post flame region if the stagnation wall temperature is sufficiently high. On the other hand, it was clarified that an increase in equivalence ratio enhances H radical production and promotes N₂O reduction by H radical through the reaction of N₂O + H = N₂ + OH.     

Effect of H-atom concentration on soot formation in premixed ethylene/air flames

Soot formation is a major challenge in the development of clean and efficient combustion systems based on hydrocarbon fuels. Fundamental understanding of the reaction mechanism leading to soot formation can be obtained by investigating the role of key reactive species such as atomic hydrogen taking part in soot formation pathways. In this study, two-dimensional laser induced incandescence (LII) measurements using λ?=?1064?nm laser have been used to measure soot volume fraction (f_V) in a series of rich ethylene (C₂H₄)/air flames, stabilized over a McKenna burner fitted with a flame stabilizing metal disc. Moreover, a comparison of UV (λ?=?283?nm), visible (λ?=?532?nm) and IR (λ?=?1064?nm) laser excited LII measurements of soot is discussed. Recently developed, femtosecond two-photon laser-induced fluorescence (fs-TPLIF) technique has been applied for obtaining spatially resolved H-atom concentration ([H]) profiles under the same flame conditions. The structure of the flames has also been determined using hydroxyl radical (OH) planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF) imaging. The results indicate an inverse dependence of f_V on [H] for a range of C₂H₄/air rich flames up to an equivalence ratio, Φ?=?3.0. Although an absolute relationship between [H] and f_V cannot be easily derived owing to the multiple steps involving H and other intermediate species in soot formation pathways, the present study demonstrates the feasibility to couple [H] and f_V obtained using advanced optical techniques for soot formation studies.     

Theoretical study on the mechanism of the reaction of FOX-7 with OH and NO2 radicals: bimolecular reactions with low barrier during the decomposition of FOX-7

The decomposition of 1,1-diamino-2,2-dinitroethene (FOX-7) attracts great interests, while the studies on bimolecular reactions during the decomposition of FOX-7 are scarce. This study for the first time investigated the bimolecular reactions of OH and NO₂ radicals, which are pyrolysis products of ammonium perchlorate (an efficient oxidant usually used in solid propellant), with FOX-7 by computational chemistry methods. The molecular geometries and energies were calculated using the (U)B3LYP/6-31++G(d,p) method. The rate constants of the reactions were calculated by canonical variational transition state theory. We found three mechanisms (H-abstraction, OH addition to C and N atom) for the reaction of OH + FOX-7 and two mechanisms (O abstraction and H abstraction) for the reaction of NO₂ + FOX-7. OH radical can abstract H atom or add to C atom of FOX-7 with barriers near to zero, which means OH radical can effectively degrade FOX-7. The O abstraction channel of the reaction of NO₂ + FOX-7 results in the formation of NO₃ radical, which has never been detected experimentally during the decomposition of FOX-7.     

Molecular structure of trimethyl[(3-indole)ethoxy]silane cooled in a supersonic jet

Conformations of He-jet-cooled trimethyl[(3-indole)ethoxy]silane (TIES) have been studied using a laser spectroscopy technique in combination with quantum-chemical computations. Six probable conformers of the molecule were computed, of which only two conformations were observed. Based on an analysis of fluorescence excitation spectra, fluorescence spectra, shapes of rotational band contours at the electronic S₀–S₁ transition of TIES, and theoretical computations, the above conformers were assigned to steric structures. Twisted structures have the lowest energy due to intramolecular hydrogen bonds C - H ?O < _C^Si C - H \cdots O <_C^{Si} between hydrogen atoms of methyl groups and an oxygen atom and C–H···π between H and the π-electron cloud of the indole ring.     

A quantum chemical study of tyrosyl reduction and O—O bond formation in photosystem II

Density functional theory has been used to study two of the main topics of oxygen evolution in photosystem II. The first concerns the reduction of the tyrosyl radical that occurs in every S-state transition. The two leading models, hydrogen atom transfer and electron transfer, have been investigated. In the present study, hydrogen atom transfer has the lower barrier. The second topic addressed is O—O bond formation in the S₃ to S₀ transition, where a Mn₃ complex including calcium and chloride cofactors was used as a model. The reaction is suggested to proceed from a bridging oxyl group to a radical hydroxyl, which combines to form the O—O bond with a hydroxide ligand of the Mn complex.     

Time-dependent density functional theory study on electronic excited states of the hydrogen-bonded solute-solvent phenol-(H2O)n (n=3-5) clusters

The solute-solvent interactions of hydrogen-bonded phenol-(H₂O)_n (n=3-5) clusters in electronic excited states were investigated by means of the time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) method. The geometric structures and IR spectra in ground state, S₁ state, and T₁ state of the clusters, were calculated using the density functional theory (DFT) and TDDFT methods. Only the ring form isomer, the most stable one of the cluster, was considered in this study. Four, five and six intermolecular hydrogen bonds were formed in phenol-(H₂O)₃, phenol-(H₂O)₄, and phenol-(H₂O)₅ clusters, respectively. Based on the analysis of IR spectra, it is revealed that the “window region” between unshifted and shifted absorption bands in both S₁ and T₁ state becomes broader compared with that in ground state for the corresponding clusters. Furthermore, two interesting phenomenon were observed: (1) with the anticlockwise order of the ring formed by the intermolecular hydrogen bonds in the H-bonded phenol-(H₂O)_n (n=3-5) clusters, the strengths of the intermolecular hydrogen bonds decrease in all the S₀, S₁ and T₁ states; (2) upon electronic excitation, the smaller the distance between phenol and water is, the larger the change of intermolecular hydrogen bonds strength is. Moreover, the intermolecular hydrogen bond (phenolic OH is the H donor) is strengthened in excited state compared with that in ground state. But the intermolecular hydrogen bond (phenolic OH is the H acceptor) is weakened in excited state.     

Direct ignition and S-curve transition by in situ nano-second pulsed discharge in methane/oxygen/helium counterflow flame

A well-defined plasma assisted combustion system with novel in situ discharge in a counterflow diffusion flame was developed to study the direct coupling kinetic effect of non-equilibrium plasma on flame ignition and extinction. A uniform discharge was generated between the burner nozzles by placing porous metal electrodes at the nozzle exits. The ignition and extinction characteristics of CH₄/O₂/He diffusion flames were investigated by measuring excited OH¹ and OH PLIF, at constant strain rates and O₂ mole fraction on the oxidizer side while changing the fuel mole fraction. It was found that ignition and extinction occurred with an abrupt change of OH¹ emission intensity at lower O₂ mole fraction, indicating the existence of the conventional ignition-extinction S-curve. However, at a higher O₂ mole fraction, it was found that the in situ discharge could significantly modify the characteristics of ignition and extinction and create a new monotonic and fully stretched ignition S-curve. The transition from the conventional S-curves to a new stretched ignition curve indicated clearly that the active species generated by the plasma could change the chemical kinetic pathways of fuel oxidation at low temperature, thus resulting in the transition of flame stabilization mechanism from extinction-controlled to ignition-controlled regimes. The temperature and OH radical distributions were measured experimentally by the Rayleigh scattering technique and PLIF technique, respectively, and were compared with modeling. The results showed that the local maximum temperature in the reaction zone, where the ignition occurred, could be as low as 900 K. The chemical kinetic model for the plasma–flame interaction has been developed based on the assumption of constant electric field strength in the bulk plasma region. The reaction pathways analysis further revealed that atomic oxygen generated by the discharge was critical to controlling the radical production and promoting the chain branching effect in the reaction zone for low temperature ignition enhancement.     

Evidence of the weakness of the OH⋯F hydrogen bond from a conformational study of 3-fluoro-1-propanol by microwave spectroscopy

The rotational spectra of the OH and OD isotopic species have been observed for three rotamers of 3-fluoro-1-propanol. One of them (HBC form) displays an internal hydrogen bond with a distorted chair conformation of the six-membered ring. The other two rotamers have the oxygen atom gauche with respect to the C₂C₃ bond, the hydroxyl hydrogen trans with respect to the C₁C₂ bond and the fluorine atom gauche (GGT form) and trans (TGT form), respectively, with respect to the C₂C₁ bond. The energies of the vibrational ground states of the HBC and TGT forms are ～0.4 and 1.0 kcal/mole higher than that of the GGT form, respectively (from relative intensity measurements). The hydrogen bond is therefore rather weak in this compound. With compounds capable of forming OH?O or OH?N bonds, the conformation appropriate for hydrogen bonding is normally the most stable form. Several excited states have been analyzed for the TGT and GGT rotamers in order to have additional data with respect to the potential function for the internal rotation about the C₃C₂ bond.     

Heat release rate as represented by [OH] × [CH2O] and its role in autoignition

Data from a recent instantaneous, simultaneous, high-resolution imaging experiment of Rayleigh temperature and laser induced fluorescence (LIF) of OH and CH₂O at the base of a turbulent lifted methane flame issuing into a hot vitiated coflow are analysed and contrasted to reference flames to further investigate the stabilization mechanisms involved. The use of the product of the quantified OH and semi-quantified CH₂O images as a marker for heat release rate is validated for transient autoigniting laminar flames. This is combined with temperature gradient information to investigate the flame structure. Super-equilibrium OH, the nature of the profiles of heat release rate with respect to OH mole fraction, and comparatively high peak heat release rates at low temperature gradients is found in the kernel structures at the flame base, and found to be indicative of autoignition stabilization.     

Adsorption and desorption of CO and H2 on Rh(111): Laser-induced desorption

Isosteric heats of adsorption ΔH_ad of CO and sticking coefficients S for CO and H₂ on Rh(111) are determined by laser-induced thermal desorption (LITD) in which a pulsed laser beam is focused onto the surface, and rapid local heating yields a desorption signal that is proportional to the adsorbate coverage θ. ΔH_ad for CO falls from 32.0±2 kcal/mol at low coverage to 14 kcal/mol at saturation, and the desorption pre-exponential factor v_d decreases from 10^14±0.5 to 10¹⁰ s^-1. ΔH_ad, v_d, and S of CO all decline sharply above θ = 0.2, corresponding to the occupation of a second binding state. Sticking coefficients for CO and hydrogen indicate precursor intermediates in adsorption.     

Helium transport along lattice channels in crystalline quartz

The problem of He atom movement through channels of the quartz crystalline lattice is investigated. Providing the diameters of the atom and of the channel are of similar size the atom interacts with neighbor constituents of the wall. The conservation of momentum law in local form applied to the ‘helium-constituent’ interaction allows reduction of the problem to a one-dimensional one, which is similar to the movement of a dislocation in the Frenkel-Kontorova (FK) model. Within the framework of this model the activation energy for ‘helium+neighbor constituents’ is expressed by the shear modulus for the channel-forming material and the He polarizability. A metastable helium atom in the triplet state (2 ³S₁) is able to penetrate through the channel. In contrast, helium atoms in the singlet states, both ground state (1 ¹S₀) and metastable (2 ¹S₀), cannot penetrate.     

On the mechanism of inhibition of a hydrogen flame by propane

Numerical simulations demonstrated that small additives of propane to rich hydrogen-air mixtures suppress the formation of HO₂ and OH in the low-temperature region of the flame zone, thereby causing a substantial decrease in the laminar flame speed. In the low-and high-temperature regions, propane interacts predominantly with OH and H, respectively. In the flame zone, propane is completely converted to CO, CO₂, CH₄, C₂H₂, H₂, and H₂O, being oxidized concurrently with hydrogen at that.     

间-吡啶基紫外光化学中的氢原子解离通道

利用高里德堡态氢原子飞行时间探测技术, 在224～248 nm激发波长研究了间-吡啶基紫外光化学中的氢原子解离通道的动力学过程．氢原子光解碎片产率谱显示在234 nm附近有较宽的吸收．产物的平动能释放较小;在224～248 nm激发波长区间平均< f_T>是0.12～0.19．产物的平动能分布显示产物是H+HC≡C-CH=CH-C≡N,H 3,4-吡啶和H 2,3-吡啶,以H HC≡C-CH=CH-C≡N为主要的氢原子生成通道．氢原子碎片具有各向同性的角度分布．研究结果表明,在紫外电子态激发以后,间-吡啶基经过内转换到电子基态,再经由单分子解离到H HC≡C-CH=CH-C≡N,H 3,4-吡啶和H 2,3-吡啶产物．间-吡啶基的紫外光解机理和以前报道过的邻-吡啶基的紫外光解机理相似．     

交叉分子束研究氯原子与硅烷的反应动力学

利用通用型交叉分子束研究了氯原子与硅烷的反应,观测到SiH₃Cl+H通道. 测量到产物SiH₃Cl在实验坐标下的角度分辨的飞行时间谱,获得了这个通道质心坐标下的产物角分布和动能分布. 结果表明,相对于氯原子束方向,产物SiH₃Cl主要是后向散射,说明这个通道主要是通过典型的双分子亲核取代反应(S_N2)机理进行的.     

Simultaneous stereo‐PIV and OH×CH2O PLIF measurements in turbulent ultra lean CH4/H2 swirling wall‐impinging flames

We present experimental results from turbulent low-swirl lean H₂/CH₄ flames impinging on an inclined, cooled iso-thermal wall, based on simultaneous stereo-PIV and OH×CH₂O PLIF measurements. By increasing the H₂ fraction in the fuel while keeping Karlovitz number (Ka) fixed in a first series of flames, a fuel dependent near-wall flame structure is identified. Although Ka is constant, flames with high H₂ fraction exhibit significantly more broken reaction zones. In addition, these high H₂ fraction flames interact significantly more with the wall, stabilizing through the inner shear layer and well inside the near-wall swirling flow due to a higher resistance to mean strain rate. This flame-wall interaction is argued to increase the effective local Ka due to heat loss to the wall, as similar flames with a (near adiabatic) ceramic wall instead of a cooled wall exhibit significantly less flame brokenness. A second series of leaner flames were investigated near blow-off limit and showed complete quenching in the inner shear layer, where the mean strain rate matches the extinction strain rate extracted from 1D flames. For pure CH₄ flames (Ka ≈ 30), the reaction zone remains thin up to the quenching point, while conversely for the 70% H₂ flames (Ka ≈ 1100), the reaction zone is highly fragmented. Remarkably, in all near blow-off cases with CH₄ in the fuel, a large cloud of CH₂O persists downstream the quenching point, suggesting incomplete combustion. Finally, ultra lean pure hydrogen flames were also studied for equivalence ratios as low as 0.22, and through OH imaging, exhibit a clear transition from a cellular flame structure to a highly fragmented flame structure near blow-off.     

Chemical structure of atmospheric pressure premixed laminar formic acid/hydrogen flames

The work presents an experimental and kinetic modeling study of laminar premixed formic acid [HC(O)OH]/H₂/O₂/Ar flames at different equivalence ratios (φ=0.85, 1.1 and 1.3) stabilized on a flat burner at atmospheric pressure, as well as laminar flame speed of HC(O)OH/O₂/Ar flames (φ=0.5–1.5) at 1 atm. Flame structure as well as laminar flame speed were simulated using three different detailed chemical kinetic mechanisms proposed for formic acid oxidation. The components in the fuel blends show different consumption profiles, namely, hydrogen is consumed slower than formic acid. According to kinetic analysis, the reason of the observed phenomenon is that the studied flames have hydrogen as a fuel but also as an intermediate product formed from HC(O)OH decomposition. Comparison of the measured and simulated flame structure shows that all the mechanisms satisfactorily predict the mole fraction profiles of the reactants, main products, and intermediates. It is noteworthy that the mechanisms proposed by Glarborg et al., Konnov et al. and the updated AramcoMech2.0 adequately predict the spatial variations in the mole fractions of free radicals, such as H, OH O and HO₂. However, some drawbacks of the mechanisms used were identified; in particular, they predict different concentrations of CH₂O. As for laminar flame speed simulations, the Konnov et al. mechanism predicts around two times higher values than in experiment, while the Glarborg et al. and updated AramcoMech2.0 show good agreement with the experimental data.     

Two-photon excitation of Na atoms in a flame by broad-band laser irradiation

With a flashlamp-pumped tunable dye laser the 3S→3D, 3S→4D and 3S→5S two-photon transitions of sodium are excited and the resulting fluorescence radiation at various atomic transitions is detected. The sodium is nebulized into a stoichiometric H₂-O₂-Ar flame at atmospheric pressure and at a temperature of 1800 K. Collisional population exchange between several of the higher Na-levels is found to occur. Saturation and saturation broadening of two-photon transitions are observed. Formulas for two- photon excitation rates in the case of broad-band excitation are derived and show substantial agreement with experiment.     

Experimental and numerical investigation of microscale hydrogen diffusion flames

Characteristics of microscale hydrogen diffusion flames produced from sub-millimeter diameter (d = 0.2 and 0.48 mm) tubes are investigated using non-intrusive UV Raman scattering coupled with LIPF technique. Simultaneous, temporally and spatially resolved point measurements of temperature, major species concentrations (O₂, N₂, H₂O, and H₂), and absolute hydroxyl radical concentration (OH) are made in the microflames for the first time. The probe volume is 0.02 × 0.04 × 0.04 mm³. In addition, photographs and 2-D OH imaging techniques are employed to illustrate the flame shapes and reaction zones. Several important features are identified from the detailed measurements of microflames. Qualitative 2-D OH imaging indicates that a spherical flame is formed with a radius of about 1 mm as the tube diameter is reduced to 0.2 mm. Raman/LIPF measurements show that the coupled effect of ambient air leakage and pre-heating enhanced thermal diffusion of H₂ leads to lean-burn conditions for the flame. The calculated characteristic features and properties indicate that the buoyancy effect is minor while the flames are in the convection–diffusion controlled regime because of low Peclet number. Also, the effect of Peclet number on the flame shape is minor as the flame is in the convection–diffusion controlled regime. Comparisons between the predicted and measured data indicate that the trends of temperature, major species, and OH distributions are properly modeled. However, the code does not properly predict the air entrainment and pre-heating enhanced thermal-diffusive effects. Therefore, thermal diffusion for light species and different combustion models might need to be considered in the simulation of microflame structure.     

Analysis of 205-nm photolytic production of?atomic hydrogen in?methane flames

We investigate the 205-nm photolytic production of atomic hydrogen in methane flames. This process represents a significant interference in two-photon, laser induced-fluorescence (TP-LIF) detection of atomic hydrogen in flames. Relative TP-LIF profiles of the photolytically produced H atoms were measured using a pump-probe technique in atmospheric-pressure, premixed CH₄/O₂/N₂ flames. A high-fluence, non-resonant, nanosecond pump laser created H atoms by photodissociating flame constituents, and a copropagating, non-perturbing picosecond laser probed the photolytically produced Hatoms via TP-LIF. Spatial profiles of photolytically produced H atoms indicate that both intermediate and product species contribute to the interference in all flames. Excellent agreement between simulated and measured interference signals is observed in the product region of the flames. Vibrationally excited H₂O is the dominant source of interference in the product region, but an additional contribution is attributed to vibrationally excited OH radicals. In the flame-front region, CH₃ is the dominant precursor, and photodissociation of C₂H₂ becomes increasingly important in rich flames. Mechanisms for sequential photodissociation of CH₃ and C₂H₂ are presented, indicating that complete dissociation at 205 nm of both precursors is feasible.     

Simultaneous one-dimensional fluorescence lifetime measurements of OH and CO in premixed flames

A method for simultaneous measurements of fluorescence lifetimes of two species along a line is described. The experimental setup is based on picosecond laser pulses from two tunable optical parametric generator/optical parametric amplifier systems together with a streak camera. With an appropriate optical time delay between the two laser pulses, whose wavelengths are tuned to excite two different species, laser-induced fluorescence can be both detected temporally and spatially resolved by the streak camera. Hence, our method enables one-dimensional imaging of fluorescence lifetimes of two species in the same streak camera recording. The concept is demonstrated for fluorescence lifetime measurements of CO and OH in a laminar methane/air flame on a Bunsen-type burner. Measurements were taken in flames with four different equivalence ratios, namely ? = 0.9, 1.0, 1.15, and 1.25. The measured one-dimensional lifetime profiles generally agree well with lifetimes calculated from quenching cross sections found in the literature and quencher concentrations predicted by the GRI 3.0 mechanism. For OH, there is a systematic deviation of approximately 30 % between calculated and measured lifetimes. It is found that this is mainly due to the adiabatic assumption regarding the flame and uncertainty in H₂O quenching cross section. This emphasizes the strength of measuring the quenching rates rather than relying on models. The measurement concept might be useful for single-shot measurements of fluorescence lifetimes of several species pairs of vital importance in combustion processes, hence allowing fluorescence signals to be corrected for quenching and ultimately yield quantitative concentration profiles.