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Detailed influences of ethanol as fuel additive on combustion chemistry of premixed fuel-rich ethylene flames

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Abstract

To better understand potential pollutant formations during combustion of conventional hydrocarbon fuels blended with oxygenated fuels, detailed influences of ethanol as fuel additive on small polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) precursors, aldehydes, ketene and other important intermediate species in premixed fuel-rich low-pressure ethylene flames are distinguished among dilution, thermal and chemical effects of additives. Dominant effects of ethanol addition on each species are underlined respectively. Ethylene oxidation process is delayed when ethylene is substituted by ethanol. The influence of ethanol dilution and thermal effects on ethylene consumption are larger than chemical effects. CO mole fractions slightly decrease mainly as a result of dilution and thermal effects of added ethanol. The reductions in small PAHs precursors (acetylene and propargyl) are attributed to dilution and thermal effects of ethanol addition instead of chemical effects. The ethanol chemical effects promote formations of hazardous pollutants formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, and especially are responsible for the significant increase of acetaldehyde. C2H6, C4H2 and C4H4 mole fractions decrease in a similar way with acetylene and propargyl as ethanol is added. Ethanol used here only serves as a prototype of oxygenated additive, and identification method in this work is more universal which can be easily extended for analyzing other fuel blends of hydrocarbon and oxygenated fuels.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Energy and Power Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210094, China

    Dong Liu

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  1. Dong Liu
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Correspondence to Dong Liu.

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Liu, D. Detailed influences of ethanol as fuel additive on combustion chemistry of premixed fuel-rich ethylene flames. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 58, 1696–1704 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-015-5884-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-015-5884-2

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