Autoignition of methanol: Experiments and computations

An experimental and computational investigation into the autoignition of methanol under high‐pressure and low‐to‐intermediate temperature conditions is conducted. The ignition delay results have been obtained using a heated rapid compression machine, over a pressure range of 7–30 bar, a temperature range of 850–1100 K, and an equivalence ratio range of 0.25–2.0. Using kinetic schemes recently reported in the literature for the combustion of methanol, the experimental results are compared to computationally obtained values. The kinetic schemes studied are found to significantly underpredict ignition delays for the conditions investigated. A sensitivity analysis of the computed results to reaction rate constants is also conducted. It is shown that the reaction of methanol with HO₂ radical is critical to the predicted values of ignition delays under the current experimental conditions. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 43: 175–184, 2011