Soot formation characteristics of ethylene premixed burner-stabilized stagnation flame with dimethyl ether addition

Effect of dimethyl ether (DME) addition on PAH and soot formation mechanisms as well as particle-size distribution function (PSDF) behavior of C2H4 premixed burner-stabilized stagnation (BSS) flame was studied. A wide range of DME addition from pure C2H4 to pure DME was considered. The sectional aerosol dynamics model with detailed gas-and particle-phase kinetic mechanism was employed for the simulations. The results indicate that soot growth rate by nucleation, and especially the H-abstraction C2H2 addition (HACA) mechanism and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) condensation increased significantly inside the stagnation boundary layer, due to strong flame-wall interaction. The PSDF curve in the post-flame region was unimodal, while that in the stagnation boundary layer was bimodal. The first peak of the PSDF curve in the stagnation boundary was resulted from the enhanced nucleation rate, and the second peak was due to the intensified soot surface growth by HACA reaction and PAH condensation. The rich premixed C2H4 BSS flame did not exhibit the synergistic effect of DME addition on PAH and soot formations. Soot formation rate decreased monotonously with DME addition for the C2H4 premixed BSS flame. Topology of soot PSDF behavior of the C2H4 premixed BSS flame changed significantly when DME addition exceeded above 20%. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.