Influence of oxygen on soot formation during acetylene pyrolysis

Kinetic modeling of pyrolysis of acetylene diluted with argon showed a strong influence of small additives of oxygen on the routes of formation of soot nuclei. The influence of oxygen on various channels of formation and consumption of propargyl radicals C₃H₃, which are important precursors of soot formation, as well as the fundamental possibility of controlling the process of soot formation and its properties are considered.     

Polymeric membranes based on cellulose acetate loaded with candle soot nanoparticles for water desalination

This study is concerned with modifying cellulose acetate (CA)/polyethylene glycol (PEG) membranes prepared via phase inversion technique in the presence of carbon nanoparticles; candle soot (CS) resulting from combusted candle. CS nanoparticles were analyzed via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The developed membranes were characterized for their surface morphology, mechanical properties as well as thermal stability. CS nanoparticles contributed in improving the salt rejection % with a slight reduction in the water flux behavior. Employing the annealed cellulose acetate/polyethylene glycol membranes loaded with candle soot nanoparticles provides an adequate approach towards water desalination implementations.     

Impact of post-injection strategy on the physicochemical properties and reactivity of diesel in-cylinder soot

Post injection has significant benefit in the reduction of diesel soot emissions. Therefore, there is a need to understand the effect of post-injection strategy on soot physicochemical properties and reactivity because they play an important role in soot oxidation process that governs the final soot emissions. This work focuses on the impact of post injection on the physicochemical properties and reactivity of diesel in-cylinder soot using a main plus post injection (M*P) and a single injection (M) strategy. The soot was sampled by a developed total cylinder sampling system, and the dividing points of soot formation-dominant and oxidation-dominant phases were used for studying the impacts of post injection on the characteristics of in-cylinder soot. The physicochemical properties of the soot samples, including primary particle size, nanostructure, carbon chemical state and surface functional groups, were characterized. The soot reactivity was evaluated in terms of peak temperature, burnout temperature and apparent activation energy. In the oxidation-dominant phase, the M*P soot initially possesses smaller primary particle size, shorter fringe length, larger tortuosity, lower sp²/sp³ hybridization ratio of carbon atoms and higher content of aliphatic CH groups than the M soot. The beneficial influence of physicochemical properties on soot reactivity when using post injection is validated by the thermogravimetric data, which shows that the M*P soot is more reactive than the M soot at the onset of the oxidation-dominant phase. In the M*P case, the soot generated from the main-injection combustion has lower reactivity than the soot from the post-injection combustion after they experience the soot formation-dominant phase. The results indicate that the use of post injection leads to in-cylinder soot with physicochemical properties that favor reactivity. The enhancement of reactivity means that the soot will be more readily oxidized in the subsequent combustion process, and consequently contributes to a reduction in final soot emissions.     

Numerical study on soot removal in partial oxidation of methane to syngas reactors

The serious carbon deposition existing in catalytic partial oxidation of methane (CPOM) to syngas process is one of the key problems that impede its industrialization. In this study, 3-dimensional unsteady numerical simulations of the soot formation and oxidation in oxidation section in a heat coupling reactor were carried out by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach incorporating the Moss-Brookes model for soot formation. The model has been validated and proven to be in good agreement with experiment results. Effects of nozzle type, nozzle convergence angle, channel spacing, number of channels, radius/height ratio, oxygen/carbon ratio, preheat temperature and additional introduction of steam on the soot formation were simulated. Results show that the soot formation in oxidation section of the heat coupling reactor depends on both nozzle structures and operation conditions, and the soot concentration can be greatly reduced by optimization with the maximum mass fraction of soot inside the oxidation reactor from 2.28% to 0.0501%, and so that the soot mass fraction at the exit reduces from 0.74% to 0.03%.     

Characterization of the materials used in Chinese ink sticks by pyrolysis-gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

Chinese ink stick has a long history and a special importance in Chinese culture. Its main components are soot (normally pine wood soot and lamp soot) and animal glue; however, additives were added from time to time for different purposes. In order to see whether the two types of soot can be differentiated and the other constituents in Chinese ink sticks can be identified or not by Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (Py-GC-MS) and GC-MS techniques, an initial study has been carried out. The main polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soot could be identified, which are anthracene, fluoranthene, triphenylene and benz[e]acephenanthrylene. The main difference between those two types of soot is that the detectable amount of PAHs in lamp soot is much lower than in pine wood soot. In addition to this, the relative concentration of the main polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons including anthracene, fluoranthene, pyrene, triphenylene and its isomer, benzo[k]fluoranthene and its isomers are different in the two types of soot. The relative content of benzo[k]fluoranthene is higher in pine soot than in lamp soot, which could be used to as a criterion to differentiate the two types of soot. Py-GC-MS technique is a very effective method to identify the main components of Chinese ink sticks, including the PAHs of soot, binding media and the additives of camphor and borneol in one analysis.     

MnO_x-CeO_2上表面氧性质及其催化碳烟燃烧性能

运用TPO,XRD,BET,O2-TPD,H2-TPR,XPS等技术,研究了在CeO2中引入不同Mn含量对催化剂表面氧性质的影响,并重点探讨了吸附于氧空位上的原子吸附氧O-与催化碳烟燃烧活性的关联。结果表明:将Mn中引入CeO2后,MnOx-CeO2晶格中可形成较CeO2更多的氧空位,并有利于氧的活化和迁移,生成了较多原子吸附氧O-;MnOx(0.4)-CeO2在碳烟起燃温度区间有最多的原子吸附氧O-,其碳烟起燃活性最高,对应的起燃温度是346℃,比无催化剂时降低了111℃,比CeO2降低了35℃。     

The Molecular Composition of Soot

Soot (sometimes referred to as black carbon) is produced when hydrocarbon fuels are burned. Our hypothesis is that polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules are the dominant component of soot, with individual PAH molecules forming ordered stacks that agglomerate into primary particles (PP). Here we show that the PAH composition of soot can be exactly determined and spatially resolved by low‐fluence laser desorption ionization, coupled with high‐resolution mass spectrometry imaging. This analysis revealed that PAHs of 239–838 Da, containing few oxygenated species, comprise the soot observed in an ethylene diffusion flame. As informed by chemical graph theory (CGT), the vast majority of species observed in the sampled particulate matter may be described as benzenoids, consisting of only fused 6‐membered rings. Within that limit, there is clear evidence for the presence of radical PAH in the particulate samples. Further, for benzenoid structures the observed empirical formulae limit the observed isomers to those which are nearly circular with high aromatic conjugation lengths for a given aromatic ring count. These results stand in contrast to recent reports that suggest higher aliphatic composition of primary particles.     

Vapor deposition of ultrathin hydrophilic polymer coatings enabling candle soot composite for highly sensitive humidity sensors

Candle soot (CS) is a desirable carbon nanomaterial for sensors owing to its highly porous nanostructure and large specific surface area. CS is advantageous in its low-cost and facile preparation compared to graphene and carbon nanotubes, but its pristine nanostructure is susceptible to collapse, hampering its application in electronic devices. This article reports conformal coating of nanoscale crosslinked hydrophilic polymer on CS film using initiated chemical vapor deposition, which well preserved the CS nanostructure and obtained nanoporous CS@polymer composites. Tuning coating thickness enabled composites with different morphologies and specific surface areas. Surprisingly, the humidity sensor made from composite with the lowest filling degree, thus largest specific surface area, showed relatively low sensitivity, which is likely due to its discontinuous structure, thus insufficient conductive channels. Composite sensor with optimum filling degree shows excellent sensing response of more than 10³ with the linearity of R² = 0.9400 within a broad relative humidity range from 11% to 96%. The composite sensor also exhibits outstanding sensing performance compared to literature with low hysteresis (3.00%), a satisfactory response time (28.69 s), and a fast recovery time (0.19 s). The composite sensor is fairly stable and durable even after 24 h soaking in water. Furthermore, embedding a humidity sensor into a face mask realizes real-time monitoring of human breath and cough, suggesting promising applications in respiratory monitoring.