Chemical Kinetics of Biofuel Combustion

A special issue of Fuels (ISSN 2673-3994).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2024) | Viewed by 12813

Special Issue Editor

Division of Combustion Physics, Department of Physics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Interests: combustion; biofuels; chemical kinetics; reduced kinetic mechanism; air pollution; renewable energy; metal combustion

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Biofuel combustion will be an important source of energy in the foreseeable future, both for transportation and stationary energy production. To further develop combustion devices for efficient and clean biofuel combustion, a thorough understanding of the fuel chemistry is needed. The chemical kinetics governing ignition, propagation, and extinction of flames can be studied using dedicated experiments and computer simulations, often in combination. The term “biofuel” includes a wide range of compounds, from simple biogas and small alcohols to complex mixtures of heavy hydrocarbon compounds.

In this Special Issue, we will present research on the experimental and computational chemical kinetics of gaseous and liquid biofuels. In addition, we welcome contributions presenting chemical kinetics of novel combustion concepts like metal combustion and plasma-assisted combustion. We include studies from the very detailed level to the applications: fundamental experimental and computational studies of chemical reactivity of relevant biofuel compounds; laboratory studies of combustion systems to further elucidate chemical reaction mechanisms; simulation studies of zero- and one-dimensional systems; and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of real combustion devices including chemical kinetics.

Prof. Dr. Elna Heimdal Nilsson
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • biofuel combustion
  • chemical kinetic modeling
  • combustion chemistry
  • experimental combustion
  • kinetics
  • biodiesel
  • bioalcohol

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 4507 KiB  
Article
Numerical Study of Premixed PODE3-4/CH4 Flames at Engine-Relevant Conditions
by Yupeng Leng, Xiang Ji, Chengcheng Zhang, Nigel Simms, Liming Dai and Chunkan Yu
Fuels 2024, 5(1), 90-106; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/fuels5010006 - 12 Mar 2024
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Abstract
Polyoxymethylene dimethyl ether (PODEn, n ≥ 1) is a promising alternative fuel to diesel with higher reactivity and low soot formation tendency. In this study, PODE3-4 is used as a pilot ignition fuel for methane (CH4) and the [...] Read more.
Polyoxymethylene dimethyl ether (PODEn, n ≥ 1) is a promising alternative fuel to diesel with higher reactivity and low soot formation tendency. In this study, PODE3-4 is used as a pilot ignition fuel for methane (CH4) and the combustion characteristics of PODE3-4/CH4 mixtures are investigated numerically using an updated PODE3-4 mechanism. The ignition delay time (IDT) and laminar burning velocity (LBV) of PODE3-4/CH4 blends were calculated at high temperature and high pressure relevant to engine conditions. It is discovered that addition of a small amount of PODE3-4 has a dramatic promotive effect on IDT and LBV of CH4, whereas such a promoting effect decays at higher PODE3-4 addition. Kinetic analysis was performed to gain more insight into the reaction process of PODE3-4/CH4 mixtures at different conditions. In general, the promoting effect originates from the high reactivity of PODE3-4 at low temperatures and it is further confirmed in simulations using a perfectly stirred reactor (PSR) model. The addition of PODE3-4 significantly extends the extinction limit of CH4 from a residence time of ~0.5 ms to that of ~0.08 ms, indicating that the flame stability is enhanced as well by PODE3-4 addition. It is also found that NO formation is reduced in lean or rich flames; moreover, NO formation is inhibited by too short a residence time. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Kinetics of Biofuel Combustion)
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17 pages, 2116 KiB  
Article
Experimental Studies on Wood Pellets Combustion in a Fixed Bed Combustor Using Taguchi Method
by Carlos Castro, Lelis Fraga, Eduardo Ferreira, Jorge Martins, Pedro Ribeiro and José C. Teixeira
Fuels 2021, 2(4), 376-392; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/fuels2040022 - 23 Sep 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3007
Abstract
The combustion of wood pellets in a fixed bed combustor of a 20 kW capacity domestic pellet boiler was tested according to several factors including Power, Excess Air (EA), Primary/Secondary air Split Ratio (SR) and Grate Area (GA). The Taguchi method was applied [...] Read more.
The combustion of wood pellets in a fixed bed combustor of a 20 kW capacity domestic pellet boiler was tested according to several factors including Power, Excess Air (EA), Primary/Secondary air Split Ratio (SR) and Grate Area (GA). The Taguchi method was applied to program the experimental design. Several parameters were measured, including gas emissions (CO), fuel bed temperature (measured at 4 different heights), and efficiency. The experimental results show that the lower CO emission and the higher efficiency were obtained at medium thermal loads and the highest temperature on the fuel bed was obtained at about ¼ of its height (15 mm). The results obtained from the analysis of variance (ANOVA) show that the SR and the Power are the most important factors contributing to the CO reduction and also increase the fuel bed temperature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Kinetics of Biofuel Combustion)
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Review

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31 pages, 10606 KiB  
Review
Evaluation of Chemical Kinetic Mechanisms for Methane Combustion: A Review from a CFD Perspective
by Niklas Zettervall, Christer Fureby and Elna J. K. Nilsson
Fuels 2021, 2(2), 210-240; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/fuels2020013 - 24 May 2021
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 8161
Abstract
Methane is an important fuel for gas turbine and gas engine combustion, and the most common fuel in fundamental combustion studies. As Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling of combustion becomes increasingly important, so do chemical kinetic mechanisms for methane combustion. Kinetic mechanisms of [...] Read more.
Methane is an important fuel for gas turbine and gas engine combustion, and the most common fuel in fundamental combustion studies. As Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling of combustion becomes increasingly important, so do chemical kinetic mechanisms for methane combustion. Kinetic mechanisms of different complexity exist, and the aim of this study is to review commonly used detailed, reduced, and global mechanisms of importance for CFD of methane combustion. In this review, procedures of relevance to model development are outlined. Simulations of zero and one-dimensional configurations have been performed over a wide range of conditions, including addition of H2, CO2 and H2O, and the results are used in a final recommendation about the use of the different mechanisms. The aim of this review is to put focus on the importance of an informed choice of kinetic mechanism to obtain accurate results at a reasonable computational cost. It is shown that for flame simulations, a reduced mechanism with only 42 irreversible reactions gives excellent agreement with experimental data, using only 5% of the computational time as compared to the widely used GRI-Mech 3.0. The reduced mechanisms are highly suitable for flame simulations, while for ignition they tend to react too slow, giving longer than expected ignition delay time. For combustible mixtures with addition of hydrogen, carbon dioxide, or water, the detailed as well as reduced mechanisms generally show as good performance as for the corresponding simulations of pure methane/air mixtures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Kinetics of Biofuel Combustion)
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