Dynamics simulation and reaction pathway analysis of characteristics of soot particles in ethylene oxidation at high temperature

Soot particles characteristics were investigated numerically for high temperature oxidation of C₂H₄/O₂/N₂ (C/O ratio of 2.2) in a closed jet-stirred/plug-flow reactor (JSR/PFR) system. Based on the growth mechanism of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), two mechanisms were used to explore the formation pathways of soot precursors and soot. Numerical results were compared with the experimental and reference data. The simulation results show that the value predicted for small molecule intermediates within A1 gives a strong regularity, consistent trend with reference data. However, with the hydrogen-abstraction-carbon-addition (HACA) growth mechanism, the predicted value for beyond-A1 PAH macromolecules and soot volume fraction are smaller than the experimental data. The results also show that the predicted soot volume fraction is in good agreement with experimental data when a combination of the HACA and PAHs condensation (HACA + PAH-PAH) growth mechanisms is used. Analyses of the A1 sensitivity and reaction pathway elucidated that A1 are mainly formed from C₂H₃, C₂H₂, C₃H₃, C₆H₅OH, A1C₂H and A1-. The reaction 2C₃H₃ → A1 is the dominant route of benzene formation. The prediction results and an analysis of the A3 reaction pathway indicate that the growth process from benzene to larger aromatic hydrocarbons (beyond two-ring polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons PAHs]) goes by two pathways, i.e., HACA combined with the PAH-PAH radical recombination and addition reaction growth mechanisms.