MODELING DME ADDITION EFFECTS TO FUEL ON PAH AND SOOT IN LAMINAR COFLOW ETHYLENE/AIR DIFFUSION FLAMES USING TWO PAH MECHANISMS

Effects of dimethyl ether (DME) addition to fuel on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and soot formation in laminar coflow ethylene/air diffusion flames were revisited numerically. Calculations were conducted using two gas-phase reaction mechanisms with PAH formation and growth: one is the C-2 chemistry of the Appel, Bockhorn, and Frenklach (ABF) mechanism with PAH growth up to A4 (pyrene); the other is also a C-2 chemistry-mechanism newly developed at the German Space Center (DLR) with PAH growth up to A5 (corannulene). Soot was modeled based on the assumptions that soot inception is due to the collision of two pyrene molecules, and soot surface growth and oxidation follow a hydrogen abstraction carbon addition (HACA) sequence. The DLR mechanism predicted much higher concentrations of pyrene than the ABF mechanism. A much smaller value of a in the surface growth model associated with the DLR mechanism must be used to predict the correct peak soot volume fraction. Both reaction mechanisms are capable of predicting the synergistic effect of DME addition to fuel on PAH formation. The locations of high PAH concentrations predicted by the DLR mechanism are in much better agreement with available experimental observations. A weak synergistic effect of DME addition on soot formation was predicted by the ABF mechanism. The DLR mechanism failed to predict the synergistic effect on soot. The likely causes for such a failure and the implications for future research on soot inception and surface growth were discussed.