Autoignition Characteristics of Ethers Blended with Low Cetane Distillates
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ArticleKAUST Department
Chemical Engineering ProgramChemical and Biological Engineering
Clean Combustion Research Center
Combustion and Pyrolysis Chemistry (CPC) Group
Mechanical Engineering
Mechanical Engineering Program
Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) Division
Date
2019-06-25Embargo End Date
2020-06-25Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/656033
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The introduction of high cetane components has enabled the use of low cetane base gasoline in compression ignition engines. This study provides an understanding of the autoignition characteristics of various ethers blended with light distillates. The spontaneous ignition of mixtures was herein studied both experimentally [ignition quality tester (IQT)] and computationally, allowing the impacts of distillate composition, ether structure, and reaction progress on key ignition pathways to be determined. Various multicomponent base fuel surrogates were formulated to closely match actual fuel composition, thereby accurately simulating the interplay between distillates and oxygenates. Despite its lower cetane number, di-n-butyl ether (DNBE) was found to promote a more vigorous ignition than diethylether. However, OH radical scavenging by p-xylene counteracts the DNBE effect. Two preignition phases may be distinguished, namely, oxidation initiation by ether and subsequent chemical runaway involving simultaneously fuel and ether. According to the present kinetic mechanism, direct cross-reactions between ether radicals and light distillate components have little impact on the ignition delay time under the IQT operating conditions. As ignition progress increases, ether contribution to OH production decreases and oxidation paths related to aliphatic and cyclic alkanes become dominant. In the case of polyoxymethylene methyl ethers, the extra production of formaldehyde during the ignition phase does not impair the overall reactivity. The respective effects of OME1 and OME3 on ignition may be explained by the emergence of a new OH production path from OME3 oxidation products, while methyl formate production from OME1 acts as an OH radical sink. Even though locally lean zones of the IQT reactor may favor specifically neopentane oxidation at the expense of n-hexane, the new OH production path remains active over a wide range of conditions. Overall, the present detailed model qualitatively captures the nonlinear impact of various ethers on autoignition over the 15–30 DCN range, which makes it attractive for optimizing low cetane fuel formulation.Citation
Nicolle, A., Naser, N., Javed, T., Rankovic, N., & Sarathy, S. M. (2019). Autoignition Characteristics of Ethers Blended with Low Cetane Distillates. Energy & Fuels, 33(7), 6775–6787. doi:10.1021/acs.energyfuels.9b00571Sponsors
The authors thank Ernesto Sandoval for performing MUM-PCE calculations and Nadiya Nair for reviewing the manuscript. The work at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) was supported by the KAUST Clean Fuels Consortium (KCFC) and its member companies.Publisher
American Chemical Society (ACS)Journal
Energy & FuelsAdditional Links
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.9b00571ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1021/acs.energyfuels.9b00571