A. D'Anna et al., A computational study of hydrocarbon growth and the formation of aromaticsin coflowing laminar diffusion flames of ethylene, COMB FLAME, 125(3), 2001, pp. 1196-1206
A kinetic mechanism, previously developed and successfully applied to predi
ct the formation of benzene and larger aromatics in pre-mixed flames is app
lied to co-flowing diffusion flames. The mechanism emphasizes the role of r
esonantly stabilized radicals, in addition to the acetylene addition mechan
ism (HACA mechanism). The flames modeled are atmospheric pressure, axisymme
tric, co-flowing laminar diffusion flames with varying amounts of oxygen ad
ded to the fuel, as studied by McEnally and Pfefferle. The model predicts,
with a good level of accuracy, the growth of hydrocarbons and the formation
of benzene and aromatic species. The results show that in diffusion-contro
lled conditions. as in pre-mixed flames, benzene formation is controlled by
propargyl radical combination. Key reactions leading to the formation of l
arger aromatics are the combination of resonantly stabilized radicals, incl
uding propargyl addition to benzyl radicals and to a lesser extent cyclopen
tadienyl radical combination. The mechanism of acetylene addition to aromat
ic rings (HACA mechanism) contributes negligibly to the formation of larger
aromatics. The model also explains the effect on the formation of non-fuel
hydrocarbons of pre-mixing oxygen with the fuel. In particular, the model
shows that partial pre-mixing shifts the pyrolysis mechanism of the fuel to
ward odd-carbon hydrocarbons. This in turns leads to enhanced production of
benzene and larger aromatics, because of the importance of reaction mechan
isms involving resonantly stabilized radicals with an odd number of carbon
atoms, such as propargyl (C3H3), cyclopentadienyl (cC(5)H(5)) and benzyl (C
7H7) radicals, in forming aromatics. (C) 2001 by The Combustion Institute.