TY - GEN A1 - Eckart, Sven A1 - Shrestha, Krishna P A1 - Giri, Binod R A1 - Fang, Qilong A1 - Li, Wei A1 - Mauss, Fabian A1 - Krause, Hartmut A1 - Li, Yuyang T1 - Insight into premixed diethoxymethane flames: Laminar burning velocities, temperatures, and emissions behaviour T2 - Proceedings of the Combustion Institute N2 - Diethoxymethane ((CH3CH2O)2CH2, DEM) is a promising carbon-neutral fuel. DEM is a diether or acetal with a molecular structure similar to oxymethylene ethers (CH3O–(CH2O)n–CH3, OMEn). Thus, DEM can be expected to have a similar combustion behavior to OMEs, reducing harmful emissions such as NOx and particulate matter (PM) in internal combustion engines. From both experimental and kinetic modeling, fundamental studies on DEM are scarce in the literature. More studies are required to gain a detailed insight into the oxidation kinetics of DEM. Laminar burning velocity (LBV) is a critical property that allows a detailed assessment of the potential application of DEM in combustion devices. Unfortunately, the literature on the LBV of DEM is limited. Therefore, in this study we have investigated the LBV of DEM using two reactors for the first time, namely a heat flux burner and a combustion chamber. The experimental data is reported for equivalence ratio between 0.7 and 1.7, initial temperatures of 368–423 K, and initial pressure of 1–5 bar. In addition, we developed a detailed kinetic model extending our recent work of Shrestha et al. (Combust. Flame. 246 (2022) 112,426) to characterize the combustion behavior of DEM utilizing the new experimental data from this work and the literature data. Our model performs remarkably well in capturing the newly measured LBV experimental data over various experimental conditions. We found that DEM and dimethoxy methane (DMM) have similar values of LBVs (within ±1.5 cm/s) for a given condition, which indicates that intermediate chemistry governs the flame chemistry. Despite DEM being a larger molecule that is expected to have slightly lower LBVs than DMM, its effect on the measured values of LBVs is negligible. Finally, we experimentally measured NOx formation in DEM flame for the first time. The stochiometric flame has the highest NOx formation. The proposed model predicted the equivalence ratio dependence of NOx nicely. However, it overestimates the NOx formation for stoichiometric DEM/air mixtures by ∼30 %. The model suggests that the thermal NO formation route is favored at lean and stochiometric conditions. In contrast, the prompt NO formation route is enhanced for rich mixtures. Y1 - 2024 UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1540748924003870 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proci.2024.105579 VL - 40 SP - 1 EP - 7 PB - Elsevier ER - TY - GEN A1 - Eckart, Sven A1 - Shrestha, Krishna P A1 - Giri, Binod R A1 - Fang, Qilong A1 - Chen, Chen A1 - Li, Wei A1 - Krause, Hartmut A1 - Mauss, Fabian A1 - Liu, Dong A1 - Li, Yuyang T1 - Chemical insights into ethyl acetate flames from experiment and kinetic modeling: Laminar burning velocity, speciation and NOx emission T2 - Proceedings of the Combustion Institute N2 - Oxygenated fuels, such as alcohols, ethers, and esters, are promising alternatives to conventional fuels. These fuels can help reduce detrimental emissions like carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons and enhance octane ratings. Among these oxygenates, ethyl acetate (EA), a small alkyl ester sourced from biomass, emerges as a clean, promising energy carrier. It serves as a surrogate fuel to facilitate investigations into the combustion behaviours of biodiesel. Despite its importance, the literature knowledge of EA combustion characteristics is limited. Therefore, this study aims to broaden the knowledge of the combustion behaviour of this type of oxygenated fuel compound. In this study, we measured the laminar burning velocities of EA by employing a heat flux burner and a closed combustion vessel over the equivalence ratios of 0.7 – 1.7, pressures of 1 – 10 bar and temperatures ranging from 353 – 423 K. Further, we also measured the NOx emissions in exhaust gas of the premixed flames fueled by EA/air for the first time over the equivalence ratio of 0.8 – 1.2. Additionally, we employed a non-premixed counterflow flame setup for extensive characterisation of species and their concentration under diverse conditions encompassing various strain rates and oxygen concentrations. Finally, we utilized these newly measured data to construct and validate a detailed kinetic model developed as part of this work. The newly developed model will help characterize the combustion properties of EA. Y1 - 2024 UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1540748924002955 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proci.2024.105487 VL - 40 (2024) SP - 1 EP - 7 PB - Elsevier ER - TY - GEN A1 - Thomas, Daniel E A1 - Shrestha, Krishna P A1 - Mauss, Fabian A1 - Northrop, William F T1 - Extinction and NO formation of ammonia-hydrogen and air non-premixed counterflow flames T2 - Proceedings of the Combustion Institute N2 - Green ammonia, produced using renewable energy, is a promising carbon-free energy vector and fuel. This work studies combustion of ammonia-hydrogen fuel mixtures with air in counterflow diffusion flame experiments and provides an improved kinetic mechanism for modeling ammonia combustion. The extinction strain rate is measured for a range of 0 to 15% hydrogen in the fuel blend. The flame structure is also investigated with quantitative laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) measurements of nitric oxide (NO) for the same hydrogen concentrations and strain rate range from 26 to 134 s. For these conditions, NO concentration increases with both strain rate and fuel hydrogen content. The previously published kinetic model developed by the authors is used to perform one-dimensional flame simulations of the experimental setup and conditions, and results are compared to three other recently published ammonia mechanisms. None of the selected models satisfactorily predict both the measured extinction strain rate and flame NO concentration. The models mainly fail to predict extinction strain rate at higher Hfraction and NO formation at the highest experimental strain rates and H fraction. The reaction rate parameters for some of the key reactions in the published model developed by authors were updated to improve agreement with experimental results. The updated model results are closely aligned with extinction strain rate measurements, and have improved prediction of flame NO concentration. The model reveals that the reactions from the NH and NH sub-mechanism are sensitive in predicting the extinction strain rate as well as NO. In particular, the reaction NH+NO=NO+H had significant impact on NO predictions. Y1 - 2024 UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1540748922003388 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proci.2022.08.067 VL - 39 IS - 2 SP - 1803 EP - 1812 PB - Elsevier ER - TY - GEN A1 - Udaybhanu, Gadi A1 - Giri, Binod R. A1 - Lee, Bok Jik A1 - Shrestha, Krishna P. A1 - Roberts, William L A1 - Mauss, Fabian A1 - Reddy, V. Mahendra T1 - Investigation of staging techniques for hydrocarbon-assisted ammonia flames in a novel dual-stage combustor T2 - Combustion and flame N2 - Ammonia presents itself as a high-hydrogen dense and carbon-free alternative for industrial heating, power generation, and transportation. Nevertheless, the challenges of its low flame speed and elevated NOx (nitrogen oxides) emissions pose significant challenges in combustor applications. This study investigates a novel two-stage burner employing a radial injection staging technique and explores various NOx reduction strategies for hydrocarbon-assisted ammonia flames. These strategies include premixing, fuel staging, balanced fuel staging, air staging, and sequential premixing. The focus is on LPG (liquid petroleum gas)-stabilized ammonia flames. The experiments are conducted at a constant thermal input of 20 kW (10 kW LPG + 10 kW NH3), with global equivalence ratios ranging from 0.7 to 1.4. This approach aims to provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of different staging strategies for NOx reduction in ammonia combustion. Experimental analysis is undertaken to ascertain the flame stabilization, flame temperature and its reaction zone, intermediate species and major emissions like NOx and NH3 of the burner. Staging configuration strongly influenced flame stabilization, heat release distribution, and thermal field, with downstream-shifted combustion zones lowering peak temperatures and NOx formation. Among the tested strategies, fuel staging and sequential premixing consistently achieved the greatest NOx reduction across the entire operating range compared to the premixed baseline, without compromising flame stability. Chemical kinetics analysis further reveals the dominant NO formation pathways, highlighting the key roles of HNO and NHi radicals. Additionally, this analysis helps identify dominant reaction routes and the role of intermediate species in NO formation and reduction processes. The combined experimental and kinetic insights provide a mechanistic basis for optimizing staged combustion of ammonia-hydrocarbon blends for lower NOx emissions. KW - Ammonia combustion KW - Nox reduction KW - Staging techniques KW - Flame stabilization KW - Radial injection KW - Kinetic analysis Y1 - 2026 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.combustflame.2025.114607 SN - 0010-2180 VL - 284 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Elsevier BV CY - Amsterdam ER -