PREDICTION OF SPECIES AND TEMPERATURE PROFILE IN METHANOL, OXYGEN, AND ARGON FLAME

A chemical kinetic model is developed to predict the adiabatic flame t emperature and the species concentration profiles for methanol/oxygen/ argon flames. The modeling is carried out for sub-atmospheric pressure (0.167 atmosphere) and for atmospheric pressure for the equivalence r atios 0.9, 1.0, and 1.1. The reaction mechanism used for the modeling is the one as given by Thomas and Dryer [4] which is actually a revisi on of the mechanism given by Westbrook and Dryer [2]. It contains 84 e lementary reactions and 25 stable and unstable species. The concentrat ion profiles of the stable species are computed as a function of dista nce over the burner and a comparison is made between the calculated an d the experimental concentration profiles, A good quantitative and qua litative agreement is observed between:the computed and the experiment al concentration profiles in the reaction zone. The difference rs obse rved in the post flame, which might occur due to the diffusion effect, which is nor dealt with in this modeling work, A sharp concentration gradient for CO after the peak value at equivalence ratio 1.0 also sug gests that the molecular diffusion may affect the profiler This modeli ng work is useful for analyzing methanol as an alternative fuel and pr ovides an understanding of the combustion phenomena and exhaust emissi on of methanol.