INVESTIGATION ON THE FLAME EXTINCTION LIMIT OF FUEL BLENDS

Technical Report · Tue Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/840350· OSTI ID:840350

Choudhuri, Ahsan R

Lean flame extinction limits of binary fuel mixtures of methane (CH{sub 4}), propane (C{sub 3}H{sub 8}), and ethane (C{sub 2}H{sub 6}) were measured using a twin-flame counter-flow burner. Experiments were conducted to generate an extinction equivalence ratio vs. global stretch rate plot and an extrapolation method was used to calculate the equivalence ratio corresponding to an experimentally unattainable zero-stretch condition. The foregoing gases were selected because they are the primary constitutes of natural gas, which is the primary focus of the present study. To validate the experimental setup and methodology, the flame extinction limit of pure fuels at zero stretch conditions were also estimated and compared with published values. The lean flame extinction limits of methane (f{sub ext} = 4.6%) and propane (f{sub ext} = 2.25%) flames measured in the present study agreed with the values reported in the literature. It was observed that the flame extinction limit of fuel blends have a polynomial relation with the concentration of component fuels in the mixture. This behavior contradicts with the commonly used linear Le Chatelier's approximation. The experimentally determined polynomial relations between the flame extinction limits of fuel blends (i.e. methane-propane and methane-ethane) and methane concentration are as follows: (1) Methane-Propane--%f{sub ext} = (1.05 x 10{sup -9}) f{sup 5}-(1.3644 x 10{sup -7}) f{sup 4}+(6.40299 x 10{sup -6}) f{sup 3}-(1.2108459 x 10{sup -4}) f{sup 2}+(2.87305329 x 10{sup -3}) f+2.2483; (2) Methane-Ethane--%f{sub ext} = (2.1 x 10{sup -9})f{sup 5}-(3.5752 x 10{sup -7}) f{sup 4}+(2.095425 x 10{sup -5}) f{sup 3}-(5.037353 x 10{sup -4}) f{sup 2} + 6.08980409 f + 2.8923. Where f{sub ext} is the extinction limits of methane-propane and methane-ethane fuel blends, and f is the concentration (% volume) of methane in the fuel mixture. The relations were obtained by fitting fifth order curve (polynomial regression) to experimentally measured extinction limits at different mixture conditions. To extend the study to a commercial fuel, the flame extinction limit for Birmingham natural gas (a blend of 95% methane, 5% ethane and 5% nitrogen) was experimentally determined and was found to be 3.62% fuel in the air-fuel mixture.

• Research Organization: University of Texas at El Paso (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: (US)
• DOE Contract Number: FG26-03NT41917
• OSTI ID: 840350
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

03 NATURAL GAS
ETHANE
EXTRAPOLATION
FLAMES
GASES
METHANE
MIXTURES
NATURAL GAS
NITROGEN
POLYNOMIALS
PROPANE