The Effect of Diluent on the Sustainability of MILD Combustion in a Cyclonic Burner

The present study investigates the characteristics of MILD/flameless combustion in a cyclonic lab-scale burner. Such a configuration is effective for achieving turbulent mixing in a very short time while allowing for a reasonably long residence time for the development of combustion reactions. These two constraints are mandatory in the case of MILD combustion processes (high inlet temperatures and diluted mixtures). Such operating conditions are achieved through massive heat/mass recirculation towards the fresh incoming mixtures by recycling the exhausted gases, featuring a process where chemical kinetics times are elongated because of the dilution levels. Thus, long residence times are needed to achieve a satisfying reaction progress, and the high inlet temperatures result in fast and efficient mixing between disproportionate flows to avoid the onset of oxidation reactions before achieving diluted conditions. Under these constraints, a lab-scale facility was designed and built. The oxidation processes of C₃H₈/O₂ mixtures highly diluted in N₂ or CO₂ were investigated by varying the external parameters of the system, namely, the inlet temperature (up to 1300 K) and the mixture composition (from lean to rich mixtures). Several combustion regimes were experimentally identified. When the MILD regime was established, the combustion process became homogeneous within the burner without luminous emissions. To investigate the distributed nature of the MILD combustion processes, chemical simulations were performed under the assumption of a well-stirred reactor. For both the diluents, good agreement between the experimental and numerical results was obtained for MILD combustion conditions.     

Structures and stabilization of low calorific value gas turbulent partially premixed flames in a conical burner

Experiments are carried out on partially premixed turbulent flames stabilized in a conical burner. The investigated gaseous fuels are methane, methane diluted with nitrogen, and mixtures of CH₄, CO, CO₂, H₂ and N₂, simulating typical products from gasification of biomass, and co-firing of gasification gas with methane. The fuel and air are partially premixed in concentric tubes. Flame stabilization behavior is investigated and significantly different stabilization characteristics are observed in flames with and without the cone. Planar laser induced fluorescence (LIF) imaging of a fuel-tracer species, acetone, and OH radicals is carried out to characterize the flame structures. Large eddy simulations of the conical flames are carried out to gain further understanding of the flame/flow interaction in the cone. The data show that the flames with the cone are more stable than those without the cone. Without the cone (i.e. jet burner) the critical jet velocities for blowoff and liftoff of biomass derived gases are higher than that for methane/nitrogen mixture with the same heating values, indicating the enhanced flame stabilization by hydrogen in the mixture. With the cone the stability of flames is not sensitive to the compositions of the fuels, owing to the different flame stabilization mechanism in the conical flames than that in the jet flames. From the PLIF images it is shown that in the conical burner, the flame is stabilized by the cone at nearly the same position for different fuels. From large eddy simulations, the flames are shown to be controlled by the recirculation flows inside cone, which depends on the cone angle, but less sensitive to the fuel compositions and flow speed. The flames tend to be hold in the recirculation zones even at very high flow speed. Flame blowoff occurs when significant local extinction in the main body of the flame appears at high turbulence intensities.     

Three-Dimensional Simulation of Turbulent Hot-Jet Ignition for Air-CH<Subscript>4</Subscript>-H<Subscript>2</Subscript> Deflagration in a Confined Volume

This work describes essential aspects of the ignition and deflagration process initiated by the injection of a hot transient gas jet into a narrowly confined volume containing air-CH₄-H₂ mixture. Driven by the pressure difference between a prechamber and a long narrow constant-volume-combustion (CVC) chamber, the developing jet or puff involves complex processes of turbulent jet penetration and evolution of multi-scale vortices in the shear layer, jet tip, and adjacent confined spaces. The CVC chamber contains stoichiometric mixtures of air with gaseous fuel initially at atmospheric conditions. Fuel reactivity is varied using two different CH₄/H₂ blends. Jet momentum is varied using different pre-chamber pressures at jet initiation. The jet initiation and the subsequent ignition events generate pressure waves that interact with the mixing region and the propagating flame, depositing baroclinic vorticity. Transient three-dimensional flow simulations with detailed chemical kinetics are used to model CVC mixture ignition. Pre-ignition gas properties are then examined to develop and verify criteria to predict ignition delay time using lower-cost non-reacting flow simulations for this particular case of study.     

Experimental study of syngas combustion at engine-like conditions in a rapid compression machine

As the world energy demand and environmental concern continue to grow, syngas is expected to play an important role in future energy production. It represents a viable energy source, particularly for stationary power generation, since it allows for a wide flexibility in fossil fuel sources, and since most of the harmful contaminants and pollutants can be removed in the post-gasification process prior to combustion. In this work, two typical mixtures of H₂, CO, CH₄, CO₂ and N₂ have been considered as representative of the producer gas coming from wood gasification, and its turbulent combustion at engine-like conditions is made in a rapid compression machine in order to improve current knowledge and provide reference data for modeling and simulation of internal combustion engines. Methane as main constituent of the natural gas is used as reference fuel for comparison reasons. Single compression and compression- expansion events were performed as well direct light visualizations from chemiluminescence emission. There is an opposite behavior of the in-cylinder pressure between single compression and compression-expansion strokes. For single compression, peak pressure decreases as the ignition delay increases. In opposite, for compression-expansion the peak pressure increases as the ignition delay increases. This opposite behavior has to do with the combustion duration under constant volume conditions. Conclusion can be drawn that higher pressures are obtained with methane-air mixture in comparison to both typical syngas compositions. These results could be endorsed to the heat of reaction of the fuels, air to fuel ratio and burning velocity. Another major finding is that syngas typical compositions are characterized by high ignition timings due to its low burning velocities. This could compromise the use of typical syngas compositions on high rotation speed engines.     

Error estimates for Rayleigh scattering density and temperature measurements in premixed flames

Rayleigh scattering has become an accepted technique for the determination of total number density during the combustion process. The interpretation of the ratio of total Rayleigh scattering signal as a ratio of densities or temperatures is hampered by the changing composition through a flame, since the average Rayleigh scattering cross-section depends on the gas composition. Typical correction factors as a function of degree of reaction, fuel and equivalence ratio were calculated. The fuels considered were H₂, CH₄, C₂H₄, C₂H₆ and C₃H₈. Factors as low as 0.7 and 0.56 were found for the heaviest hydrocarbon fuel at large equivalence ratio for interpreting the Rayleigh scattering intensity as gas density and inverse temperature, respectively. This is primarily due to the presence of CO and H₂ as intermediates. As CO and H₂ are subsequently oxidized to CO₂ and H₂O, these factors approach 1.0. Conversely, the worst case, when using H₂ as a fuel, occurs in the post flame zone. However, the correction factors for H₂ are near 1.0 and the errors involved will, in general, remain within the expected experimental accuracy of a typical Rayleigh scattering system. Linear correlations of correction factors with equivalene ratio and with the product of equivalence ratio and fuel molecular weight were found and presented. The interpretation of Rayleigh scattering as temperature was found to have larger errors than the interpretation as density. Corrections for changes in gas composition were applied to Rayleigh scattering temperature measurements in the post flame region of CH₄ and C₃H₈ flames with equivalence ratios of 0.75 and 1.0. The corrected temperatures were in excellent agreement with thermocouple measurements.List of symbols A ₁, A ₂ correlation coefficients - B ₁, B ₂ correlation coefficients - C ₁, C ₂ correlation coefficients - D ₁, D ₂ correlation coefficients - C calibration constant for Rayleigh scattering optics - H total enthalpy - Î I _R /I _RO - I _i incident laser intensity - I _R Rayleigh scattering intensity - I _R0 Rayleigh scattering intensity at reference condition - N total number density of gas - N ₀ total number density of gas at reference condition - n _i index of refraction of species i - – T/T _O - T temperature - T _a adiabatic flame temperature - T ₀ reference temperature - t time - W/W ₀ - W mean molecular weight - W ₀ mean molecular weight at reference condition - W _ij rate of production of species i by reaction j - X _i mole fraction of species i - degree of reaction (T – T ₀)/(T _a – T ₀) - laser wavelength - ₀ Loschmidt number - /₀ - density - ₀ density at reference condition - dimensionless mean Rayleigh scattering cross-section - _Ri Rayleigh scattering cross-section of species i - scattering angle measured from the electromagnetic field vector - equivalence ratio     

Large-Eddy Simulation of Turbulent Flow Around a Finite-Height Wall-Mounted Square Cylinder Within a Thin Boundary Layer

The paper describes the results of a computational study of the auto-ignition of a fuel spray under Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) conditions, a technique used to reduce the production of NO_x. Large Eddy Simulation (LES) is performed, and the stochastic field method is used for the solution of the joint sub-grid probability density function (pdf) of the chemical species and energy. The fuel spray is n-heptane, a diesel surrogate and its chemical kinetics are described by a reduced mechanism involving 22 species and 18 reaction steps. The method is applied to a constant volume combustion vessel able to reproduce EGR conditions by the ignition of a hot gas mixture previously introduced into the chamber. Once the prescribed conditions are reached the fuel is then injected. Different EGR conditions in terms of temperature and initial ambient chemical composition are simulated. The results are in good overall agreement with measurements both regarding the ignition delay times and the lift-off heights.     

Measurement of the concentration diffusion coefficient for Ne-Ar, Ne-Xe, Ne-H2, Xe-H2, H2-N2 and H2-O2 gas systems

The concentration diffusion coefficient, D ₁₂, is measured for the equimolar mixtures of Ne-Ar, Ne-Xe, Ne-H₂, Xe-H₂, H₂-N₂ and H₂-O₂ binary gas systems in a two-bulb metal apparatus in the temperature range 0 C to 100 C. These values are compared with the existing data on these systems and with the predictions of the kinetic theory in conjunction with the modified Buckingham exp-six potential. Unlike the thermal diffusion coefficient, with the simple theory it is possible to predict D ₁₂ within a few percent even for systems involving polyatomic gases. The smoothed experimental D ₁₂ values are also used to obtain data for the coefficients of viscosity and thermal conductivity at round temperatures and compositions for these systems.Nomenclature C ₂ ^t relative amount of a gas in the mixture in the bulb 2 at an instant t - C ₂ relative amount of the same gas in the mixture in the bulb 2 at equilibrium - D ₁₂ diffusion coefficient - X ₁ mole-fraction of the heavier component in the mixture - _mix viscosity coefficient - _mix thermal conductivity coefficient     

Injection of Acid Gas Mixtures in Sour Oil Reservoirs: Analysis of Near-Wellbore Processes with Coupled Modelling of Well and Reservoir Flow

The reinjection of sour or acid gas mixtures is often required for the exploitation of hydrocarbon reservoirs containing remarkable amounts of acid gases (H₂S and CO₂) to reduce the environmental impact of field exploitation and provide pressure support for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) purposes. Sour and acid gas injection in geological structures can be modelled with TMGAS, a new Equation of State (EOS) module for the TOUGH2 reservoir simulator. TMGAS can simulate the two-phase behaviour of NaCl-dominated brines in equilibrium with a non-aqueous (NA) phase, made up of inorganic gases such as CO₂ and H₂S and hydrocarbons (pure as well as pseudo-components), up to the high pressures (~100 MPa) and temperatures (~200°C) found in deep sedimentary basins. This study is focused on the near-wellbore processes driven by the injection of an acid gas mixture in a hypothetical high-pressure, under-saturated sour oil reservoir at a well-sector scale and at conditions for which the injected gas is fully miscible with the oil. Relevant-coupled processes are simulated, including the displacement of oil originally in place, the evaporation of connate brine, the salt concentration and consequent halite precipitation, as well as non-isothermal effects generated by the injection of the acid gas mixture at temperatures lower than initial reservoir temperature. Non-isothermal effects are studied by modelling in a coupled way wellbore and reservoir flow with a modified version of the TOUGH2 reservoir simulator. The described approach is limited to single-phase wellbore flow conditions occurring when injecting sour, acid or greenhouse gas mixtures in high-pressure geological structures.     

LES-CMC Simulations of Different Auto-ignition Regimes of Hydrogen in a Hot Turbulent Air Co-flow

Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) results in combination with first-order Conditional Moment Closure (CMC) are presented for a hydrogen jet, diluted with nitrogen, issued into a turbulent co-flowing hot air stream. The fuel mixes with the co-flow air, ignites and forms a lifted-like flame. Global trends in the experimental observations are in general well reproduced: the auto-ignition length decreases with increase in co-flow temperature and increases with increase in co-flow velocity. In the experiments, the co-flow temperature was varied, so that different auto-ignition regimes, including low Damköhler number situations, were obtained (no ignition, random spots, flashback and lifted flame). All regimes are recovered in the simulations. Auto-ignition is found to be the stabilizing mechanism. The impact of different detailed chemistry mechanisms on the auto-ignition predictions is discussed. With increasing air temperature, the differences between the mechanisms considered diminish. The evolution of temperature, H₂O, H, HO₂ and OH from inert to burning conditions is discussed in mixture fraction space.     

Interaction of detonation with inert gas zone

The results of experimental study on detonation interaction with the regions of low reactivity, generated by the injection of an inert gas into reactive mixture, are reported. A square cross-section 60×60 mm, 3.6 m long detonation channel was used. The experiments were done for stoichiometric H₂−O₂ mixture at 0.3 bar and 0.5 bar initial pressure and room temperature. The inert gas (Ar, He, N₂ or CO₂) was injected from 0.523 dm³ container into the main channel 1 s before ignition. The size of the inert zone was controlled by inert initial pressure. The behavior of detonation was studied using direct streak photography and pressure transducers. The study has shown that at low pressure of Ar, N₂ and CO₂ injection only a slight decrease of detonation velocity occurs. At higher injection pressures complete damping of detonation and flame extinguishment occur, followed by flame reigniton and DDT outside the inert zone. For low He injection pressures an increase in detonation velocity was recorded. For higher injection pressures, detonation damping occurred, followed by DDT process. The results have shown that CO₂ has the strongest effect on damping 2H₂+O₂ detonation, with N₂ and Ar in the next places, and He very far behind. The effectiveness of inert gas in detonation damping was found proportional to its molecular weight and reciprocal to its specific heat ratio. The numerical simulations of detonation propagation through inert gas zone were also performed using the one- dimensional Detonation Lagrangean code with simple energy release model. The results of simulations are in good qualitative agreement with experimental tendencies. In particular, the model has shown that the re-initiation of detonation is enhanced by smooth concentration gradients at inert/reactive interface. An abridged version of this paper was presented at the 15th Int. Colloquium on the Dynamics of Explosions and Reactive Systems at Boulder, Colorado, from July 30 to August 4, 1995     

Effect of nonequilibrium processes in the infrasonic and ultrasonic regions of a nozzle on population inversion in flow of CO2 - N - O2 - H2O gas mixtures

The processes of oscillatory relaxation in flow through nozzles of CO₂, N₂, O₂, H₂O gas mixtures are studied. The effect of various oscillatory-oscillatory and osciallatory-translational exchange channels between mixture components and CO₂ intermode energy-exchange Channels on population inversion is examined. The importance of considering nonequilibrium processes in the infrasonic region of the nozzle is noted. The effect of inclined shock waves on flow characteristics in the supersonic nozzle region and population inversion is studied.     

Population inversion behind a detonation wave propagating in a variable-density medium

The creation of an active medium by means of detonation has been investigated on a number of occasions. It was suggested that one could use the expansion of the detonation products of an acetylene-air mixture in vacuum [1] or the cooling of the detonation products of a mixture of hydrocarbons and air through a nozzle [2, 3]. In [4], the detonation of a solid high explosive was used to produce population inversion in the gas mixture CO₂-N₂-He(H₂O). Stimulated emission from HF molecules was observed in [5] behind the front of an overdriven detonation wave propagating in an F₂-H₂-Ar mixture in a shock tube. Population inversion behind a detonation wave was studied in H₂-F₂-He mixtures in [6–8] and in H₂-Cl₂-He mixtures in [9] with energy release on a plane and on a straight line in a medium with constant density. Similar problems were solved for shock waves propagating in both a homogeneous gaseous medium [7, 10] and in the supersonic part of an expanding nozzle. In the present paper, we study theoretically population inversion behind an overdriven detonation wave propagating in a mixture (fine carbon particles + acetylene + air) which flows through a hypersonic nozzle. The propagation of detonation in media with variable density and initial velocity was considered, for example, in [11, 12]. Analysis of the gas parameters behind a detonation wave propagating in a medium with constant density (for a given fuel) showed that the temperature difference across the detonation front is insufficient to produce population inversion of the vibrational levels of the CO₂ molecule.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 65–71, January–February, 1980.I am grateful to V. P. Korobeinikov for a helpful discussion of the results.     

Propagation of Reaction Between Bubbles with a Gas Burning in a Fluidised Bed

A bubbling fluidised bed reactor has been used for investigating how combustion propagates between bubbles of premixed fuel + air, rising from the distributor towards the surface. Earlier work has shown that when the temperature of the sand gradually rises, the gases first burn in flames above the bed, regime A, then combustion moves under its surface, to occur in bubbles travelling up the bed, under regime B. Above a certain temperature, characteristic of the gas mixture composition, combustion descends towards the bottom of the bed. Ignition then occurs in small bubbles near the distributor, under the stable regime C. The kinetic model, used to calculate the delay for thermal ignition inside gas bubbles rising through the bed, gives correct predictions for regimes A and C but not for B. Under regime B, bubbles of the mixture begin to ignite under the bed’s surface while their residence time in the bed is remains shorter than the delay times for thermal ignition derived from the kinetic model. As the temperature rises, the ignition delay rapidly decreases, and regime C is reached, in accordance with the model. In this work attention was focused on regime B. A laboratory reactor of quartz glass was used, with a bed of quartz sand. Fast video recording was employed to capture ignition phenomena as the bed’s temperature was raised or lowered. Records of freeboard concentrations of O₂, CO and of total hydrocarbons, VOCs, were obtained, confirming the specific aerodynamic and chemical character of regime B. It has been shown that combustion spreads from the surface to bubbles near the bed’s surface and then to other bubbles close by. Such transfer of the reaction stabilizes combustion inside the bed, at temperatures appreciably lower than that for the thermal ignition of the mixture, given by the kinetic model. This is consistent with earlier findings, which have shown that the combustion of gaseous mixtures in bubbling fluidised beds is controlled by gas phase processes, as in flames.     

Amplification of the emission of a CO2 laser in the products of the reaction of carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide

To produce laser-active gaseous media, and to investigate their characteristics, it is convenient to use expanding gasdynamic flows [1–4], and high-speed chemical reactions [5, 6]. The idea of a chemical-gasdynamic laser [7, 8], based on a combination of the chemical and gasdynamic methods of producing population inversion is of interest. In this paper we investigate the conditions under which population inversion of the vibrational levels of the CO₂ molecule can be produced in expanding flows of different gaseous mixtures containing CO₂, including the products of the reaction between NO and CO with the addition of a small amount of hydrogen, and when the initial mixture is diluted with nitrogen or argon. The effect of the composition of the initial mixture and the temperature in front of the nozzle on the gain of the coherent emission at a wavelength of 10.6 μm in the working cross section of the flow is investigated.     

The psychrometric problem for the evaporation of NH3 in NH3/H2 atmosphere in neutral gas absorption refrigeration units for pressures 17.5 to 27.5 bar

The present work considers the thermodynamic and transport properties of the real NH₃/H₂ gas mixture as a function of the state variables temperature, mass fraction and pressure. The relevant properties are presented in the form of analytical expressions, valid in the pressure range of 17.5 to 27.5 bar. The psychrometric problem is used to determine the mass fraction of the NH₃/H₂ gas mixture with the dry and wet bulb temperatures as input variables.

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Das Psychrometrische Problem der Verdampfung von NH₃ in NH₃/H₂ Atmosphäre bei Neutralgasabsorptionskälteanlagen für Drücke von 17,5 bis 27,5 bar

Zusammenfassung In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden die thermodynamischen und Transporteigenschaften des reellen NH₃/H₂ Gasgemisches als Funktion der Zustandsvariabeln Temperatur, Massenkonzentration und Druck betrachtet. Die verschiedenen Eigenschaften sind in Form von analytischen Ausdrücken dargestellt und gelten in dem Druckbereich von 17,5 bis 27,5 bar. Das Psychrometrische Problem wurde benutzt um mit Hilfe der Trocken- und Feuchtkugeltemperatur, als Eintrittsparameter, die Massenkonzentration des NH₃/H₂-Gasgemisches zu bestimmen.

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Abbreviations

Nomenclature A ₁,...,A₃/A₁,...,A₄/A₁,...,A₄ Enthalpy coefficients [Eq. (2)] - a _ij, a_ij, a_ij: i = 1, 4,j = 1, 4 enthalpy coefficients [Eqs. (2a), (2b)–(2j),(2k)] - B ₁,B₂,..., B₅, B₆ coefficients of the Eq. (3) concerning the mass fraction of the - NH₃/H₂ gas mixture at saturated state - b _ij: i=1, 6,j = 1, 4 coefficients of the Eqs. (3a)-(3f) - B ₁₁ cm³/mole second virial coefficient of H₂ - B ₂₂ cm³/mole second virial coefficient of NH₃ - B ₁₂ cm³/mole mixture property (mixture second virial coefficient) - C ₁,..., C₃/C₁,...,C ₃/C₁,...,C₄ specific volume coefficients [Eq.(4) - c _ij, c_ij, c_ij: i = 1, 4,j = 1,4 specific volume coefficients [Eqs. (4a)-(4j)] - c _p kJ/kg grd specific heat capacity for constant pressure - D ₁₂ cm²/sec diffusion coefficient of the real - NH₃/H₂ gas mixture - D ₁,...,D₄/D₁,...,D₄/D₁,...,D₄ coefficients [Eq. (7)] concerning the thermal conductivity of the - NH₃/H₂ gas mixture - d _ij,d_ij, d_ij: i = 1, 4,j=1,4 thermal conductivity coefficients [Eqs. (7a)-(7l)] - f _G mass fraction of the real NH₃/H₂ gas mixture - > f _sat,f _s mass fraction at saturation state - h kJ/kg specific enthalpy of the NH₃/H₂ gas mixture - H kJ/kmole molar enthalpy - H ₁₁ kJ/kmole molar enthalpy of the H₂ - H ₂₂ kJ/kmole molar enthalpy of the NH₃ - h _G kJ/kg specific enthalpy of the NH₃/H₂ gas mixture at bulk state conditions - h _s kJ/kg specific enthalpy of the NH₃/H₂ gas mixture at interface state conditions - n moles of the mixture - N _pr Prandtl number - Schmidt number - Lewis number - p bar pressure (total pressure of the NH₃/H₂ gas mixture) - r coefficient of the thermal conductivity of the NH₃/H₂ gas mixture - T °C, K temperature - m³/kg specific volume - mole fraction - ₁ moles H₂/moles mixture - ₂ moles NH₃/moles mixture Greek letters , _M kJ/m h grd thermal conductivity of the real NH₃/H₂ gas mixture - ₁ kJ/m h grd thermal conductivity of the H₂ - ₂ kJ/m h grd thermal conductivity of the NH₃ - P dynamic viscosity of the real NH₃/H₂ gas mixture - kg/m₃ density of the real NH₃/H₂ gas mixture     

Autoignition of n-decane Droplets in the Low-, Intermediate-, and High-temperature Regimes from a Mixture Fraction Viewpoint

Detailed numerical simulations of isolated n-decane droplets autoignition are presented for different values of the ambient pressure and temperature. The ignition modes considered included single-stage ignition, two-stage ignition and cool-flame ignition. The analysis was conducted from a mixture fraction perspective. Two characteristic chemical time scales were identified for two-stage ignition: one for cool-flame ignition, and another for hot-flame ignition. The appearance and subsequent spatial propagation of a cool flame at lean compositions was found to play an important role in the ignition process, since it created the conditions for activating the high-temperature reactions pathway in regions with locally rich composition. Single-stage ignition was characterized by a single chemical time scale, corresponding to hot-flame ignition. Low-temperature reactions were negligible for this case, and spatial diffusion of heat and chemical species mainly affected the duration of the ignition transient, but not the location in mixture fraction space at which ignition first occurs. Finally, ignition of several cool flames of decreasing strength was observed in the cool-flame ignition case, which eventually lead to a plateau in the maximum gas-phase temperature. The first cool flame ignited in a region where the fuel / air mixture was locally lean, whereas ignition of the remaining cool flames occurred at rich mixture compositions.     

Li2SiO3 fast microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis and evaluation of its water vapor and CO2 absorption properties

A series of lithium metasilicate (Li₂SiO₃) powder materials has been successfully synthesized by the microwave-assisted hydrothermal route using lithium hydroxide and tetraethyl-orthosilicate-derived sol precursors. Ceramic powders were obtained under hydrothermal conditions of autogenous pressure in the presence of a nonionic surfactant. The production of pure and well-crystallized Li₂SiO₃ using very short reaction times at low temperatures was shown by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and N₂ adsorption-desorption analyses. Synthesized Li₂SiO₃ particles were nanocrystalline and exhibited different morphologies and specific surface areas depending on the synthesis conditions. Additionally, the capability of selected Li₂SiO₃ samples to absorb H₂O and CO₂ was evaluated via thermogravimetric analyses by varying the temperature, carrier gas, and water vapor concentration. Li₂SiO₃ particles exhibited interesting textural and morphological characteristics that make them suitable for use as a CO₂ absorbent and which suggest that they also have the potential to be used in other applications.     

Influence of heat and mass transfer on the ignition and NOx formation in single droplet combustion

The effect of heat and mass transfer on the ignition, and in a second step on the nitrogen oxide (NO _x ) generation, of single burning droplets is examined in a numerical study. Spherical symmetry with no gravity and no forced convection is presumed; ambient temperature is set at 500 K, below the auto-ignition point. The essentials of a forced droplet ignition by an external energy source are introduced. Two methods are applied: heat introduction at a fixed radial position r and heat introduction at a fixed local equivalence ratio ϕ _r . This study’s distinctiveness compared to previous research is its focus on and its combination of partially pre-vaporized droplets and detailed chemistry, both being technically relevant in kerosene and diesel fuel combustion. The fuel of choice is n-decane (C₁₀H₂₂), and NO _x production is studied exemplarily as a representative group of pollutant emissions. The conducted simulations show a decrease of NO _x formation with an increase of the pre-vaporization rate \Uppsi. \Uppsi. This decrease is generally valid for both methods of heat introduction. However, results on flame stabilization and NO _x production reveal a high sensitivity to parameters of the ignition model. The burning behavior during the initial stages is dominated by the ignition position. Extracting heat from the exhaust gas region of burning droplets shows no impact on the flame position nor on the relative NO _x production. As a consequence, a well-founded modeling of the investigated droplet regime needs to resort to an iterative adaptation of the heat introduction parameters based on the findings of droplet burning and exhaust gas production.     

Numerical study of flows of reacting composite mixtures

A distributed mathematical model is proposed to describe a flow of a mixture of gases, fine particles of a reacting metal, and droplets of a hydrocarbon fuel. The heterogeneous chemical reaction of low-temperature oxidation of the metal, the homogeneous oxidation reaction of the reacting vaporized liquid fuel, and the difference in phase velocities and temperatures are taken into account. It is shown that this model can be used to describe the problems of detonation in a mixture of a reacting gas and reacting solid particles, and the problems of ignition of a mixture of aluminum particles and tridecane droplets. Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Siberian Division, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk 630090. Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 40, No. 2, pp. 128–136, March–April, 1999.