Kinetic investigations of combustion of small oxygenated aliphatic hydrocarbons – modeling and experiments

Abstract: The depletion of oil reserves and the increasingly stringent European Union regulation of air pollution have forced researchers and manufacturers to search for cleaner and sustainable substitutes to petroleum‐based transportation fuels. Biofuels like small aliphatic alcohols are of increasing interest as alternatives to fossil fuels, as they offer long‐term fuel‐source regenerability. As major advantages, bio-alcohols promise to reduce environmental impact and to be ready-to-use, as their employment requires minor adjustments in internal combustion engines. However, only methanol and ethanol have established themselves on the fuel market, while the use of higher homologous is still a research matter. To this end, to make a proper selection of alternative fuels, the main aim of the thesis was to increase the understanding of chemical reaction networks of propyl alcohols combustion. The thesis focused on building a detailed kinetic reaction model capable to predict the decomposition and oxidation processes, as well as the formation of undesired and harmful pollutant, such as NO. Kinetic investigation also included the study of propanal, which is a critical stable intermediate derived from the oxidation of 1-propanol. Moreover, my research was also comprehensive of the experimental investigation of NO formation in methanol flames. The combustion kinetic models developed during my PhD studies were assessed against both new and available burning velocities, as well as against other combustion properties performed with different devices and methods from literature.New laminar burning measurements were performed at atmospheric pressure and different temperature using the heat flux method.NO predictions from the kinetic model were assessed against new quantitative NO mole fraction measurements in the post-flame region. Experiments were performed using saturated laser-induced fluorescence and flames were stabilized using the heat flux burner.The presented combustion models were also compared with the most reliable models from literature and the strengths and weaknesses in the combustion chemistry predictions of such mechanisms were evaluated and discussed.