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Title: High-temperature ignition of propane with MTBE as an additive: Shock-tube experiments and modeling

Conference ·
OSTI ID:10114943
 [1];  [2]
  1. Sandia National Labs., Livermore, CA (United States)
  2. Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)

Ignition of propane has been studied in a shock tube and by computational modeling to determine the effect of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) as a fuel additive. MTBE and isobutene were added in amounts up to 25% of the fuel to propane-oxygen-argon mixtures in shock-tube experiments covering a range of temperatures between 1450 and 1800 K. Ignition delays were measured from chemiluminescence at 432 nm due to excited CH radicals. The temperature dependence of the ignition rates was analyzed to yield Arrhenius parameters of E{sub a}{approximately}40 kcal/mol and log (A){approximately} 9.0 sec{sup {minus}1} for the overall reaction. Reactions involving MTBE and its decomposition products were combined with an established propane mechanism in a numerical model to describe the kinetic interaction of this additive with a typical hydrocarbon fuel. The experiments and the kinetic model both show that MTBE and isobutene retard propane ignition with nearly equal efficiency. The kinetic model demonstrates that isobutene kinetics are responsible for inhibition by both MTBE and isobutene, and the specific elementary reactions which produce this behavior are identified.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Labs., Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-76DR00789; W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
10114943
Report Number(s):
SAND-91-8721; CONF-920707-9; ON: DE92006679
Resource Relation:
Conference: 24. international symposium on combustion,Sydney (Australia),5-10 Jul 1992; Other Information: PBD: [1991]
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English