Forensics of Soot: Nanostructure as a Diagnostic of In-Cylinder Chemistry

Conference · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2012

OSTI ID:1050398

Vander Wal, Dr. Randy ^[1]; Strzelec, Dr. Andrea ^[2]; Toops, Todd J ^[3]; Daw, C Stuart ^[3]

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1. Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA
2. Texas A&M University
3. ORNL

We report observations of changes in the microstructure of soot from an experimental light-duty diesel engine, produced with varying levels of biodiesel fuel blending. Based on these changes, we propose a hypothesis for how these changes relate to in-cylinder combustion chemistry. Our hypothesis centers on the assumption that fullerenic lamellar structures in soot trace their origin to 5-membered rings (C5s) formed early in the combustion process from gas-phase reaction intermediates. We also speculate that fullerenic microstructures may be a general feature of soot produced with oxygenated fuels and might be useful for diagnosing important changes in combustion trajectories.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Fuels, Engines and Emissions Research Center (FEERC)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1050398
• Resource Relation: Conference: 2012 Spring Technical Meeting of the Central States Section of the Combustion Institute, Dayton, OH, USA, 20120422, 20120424
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS
CHEMISTRY
COMBUSTION
DIESEL ENGINES
HYPOTHESIS
MICROSTRUCTURE
NANOSTRUCTURES
ORIGIN
REACTION INTERMEDIATES
SOOT
TRAJECTORIES
diesel soot particulate carbon oxidation