skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Understanding low-temperature first-stage ignition delay: Propane

Journal Article · · Combustion and Flame
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [1];  [3];  [4]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
  2. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Brown Univ., Providence, RI (United States)
  3. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States)
  4. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

The low-temperature auto-ignition of fuels is a complex process, occurring in multiple stages with distinct chemical processes governing each stage. The conversion from alkyl radical to chain branching products, which occurs through successive O2 additions followed by thermal decomposition of the products, is at the core of the auto-ignition process. Our detailed understanding of this central process continues to evolve, with recent theoretical kinetics studies providing a particularly comprehensive description of the radical oxidation process for propane. Here, we employ this improved description in a detailed numerical and analytical exploration of the first-stage ignition delay for low-temperature auto-ignition of propane, which may be considered as a prototype for larger alkane fuels. The traditional first-stage of ignition can be divided into two stages (stage-1A and stage-1B). During stage-1A, the concentration of radicals grows exponentially, and both OH and HO2 are important in the consumption of the fuel and generation of alkyl radicals. Stage-1A ends when the concentration of HO2 is sufficiently high that the chain-terminating bimolecular reaction HO2 + HO2 becomes competitive with other HO2 reactions including HO2 + fuel, thus slowing the HO2 concentration rise such that it is no longer a key contributor to fuel consumption. During stage-1B, increasing temperature and growing side reactions with secondary chemistry reduce the positive feedback and the concentrations of ketohydroperoxide species stop growing exponentially. The end of this stage is associated with the maximum in ketohydroperoxide, after which it is depleted. We present simple analytical approximations for the time it takes to complete these two sub-stages. These expressions clarify which rate constants control first-stage ignition, and they quantify how the ignition is influenced by mixture composition, temperature and pressure. Furthermore, the analysis is extended to longer alkane fuels and is shown to provide fairly reliable predictions of the first-stage ignition delay.

Research Organization:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Combustion Energy Frontier Research Center (CEFRC)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences Division
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0001198; AC02-06CH11357; DEAC02-06CH11357; 59044
OSTI ID:
1369859
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1247749
Journal Information:
Combustion and Flame, Vol. 162, Issue 10; Related Information: CEFRC partners with Princeton University (lead); Argonne National Laboratory; University of Connecticut; Cornell University; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; University of Minnesota; Sandia National Laboratories; University of Southern California; Stanford University; University of Wisconsin, Madison; ISSN 0010-2180
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 104 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (69)

Kinetic modeling of gasoline surrogate components and mixtures under engine conditions journal January 2011
Progress and recent trends in homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engines journal October 2009
Reactivity controlled compression ignition and conventional diesel combustion: A comparison of methods to meet light-duty NOx and fuel economy targets journal June 2013
Spontaneous ignition of hydrocarbon and related fuels: A fundamental study of thermokinetic interactions journal January 1985
Explosions of adiabatically compressed gases in a constant volume bomb journal January 1988
Reduced kinetic models and their application to practical combustion systems journal January 1995
Chemical kinetics of hydrocarbon ignition in practical combustion systems journal January 2000
Temperature cross-over and non-thermal runaway at two-stage ignition of n-heptane journal January 2002
Computational Singular Perturbation Analysis of Two-Stage Ignition of Large Hydrocarbons journal June 2006
The role of global and detailed kinetics in the first-stage ignition delay in NTC-affected phenomena journal November 2013
An analytical approximation for low- and high-temperature autoignition for dimethyl ether–air mixtures journal January 2015
A Comprehensive Modeling Study of n-Heptane Oxidation journal July 1998
Direct numerical simulations of ignition of a lean n-heptane/air mixture with temperature inhomogeneities at constant volume: Parametric study journal September 2011
Aspects of the reaction mechanism of ethane combustion. Conformations of the ethylperoxy radical journal October 1992
The C 2 H 5 + O 2 Reaction Mechanism:  High-Level ab Initio Characterizations journal November 2000
Mechanism of the C2H5+O2 reaction journal July 1997
Kinetics of the reaction of ethyl radicals with molecular oxygen from 294 to 1002 K journal August 1984
Liquid-phase autoxidation of organic compounds at elevated temperatures. 1. The stirred flow reactor technique and analysis of primary products from n-hexadecane autoxidation at 120-180.degree.C journal December 1979
Liquid-phase autoxidation of organic compounds at elevated temperatures. 2. Kinetics and mechanisms of the formation of cleavage products in n-hexadecane autoxidation journal April 1981
HPLC Determination of Hydroperoxidic Products Formed in the Autoxidation of n-Hexadecane at Elevated Temperatures journal September 1983
Initiation in hydrocarbon autoxidation at elevated temperatures journal October 1990
New Pathways for Formation of Acids and Carbonyl Products in Low-Temperature Oxidation: The Korcek Decomposition of γ-Ketohydroperoxides journal July 2013
Effect of non-thermal product energy distributions on ketohydroperoxide decomposition kinetics journal January 2015
Interception of Excited Vibrational Quantum States by O2 in Atmospheric Association Reactions journal August 2012
Towards a quantitative understanding of the role of non-Boltzmann reactant distributions in low temperature oxidation journal January 2015
Improvement of the Modeling of the Low-Temperature Oxidation of n -Butane: Study of the Primary Reactions journal February 2012
Database of Small Molecule Thermochemistry for Combustion journal August 2012
Role of O 2 + QOOH in Low-Temperature Ignition of Propane. 1. Temperature and Pressure Dependent Rate Coefficients journal March 2012
Systematic Computational Study on the Unimolecular Reactions of Alkylperoxy (RO 2 ), Hydroperoxyalkyl (QOOH), and Hydroperoxyalkylperoxy (O 2 QOOH) Radicals journal April 2011
Molecular size dependent falloff rate constants for the recombination reactions of alkyl radicals with O2 and implications for simplified kinetics of alkylperoxy radicals journal November 2011
Rate Rules, Branching Ratios, and Pressure Dependence of the HO 2 + Olefin Addition Channels journal July 2013
High-Pressure Rate Rules for Alkyl + O 2 Reactions. 1. The Dissociation, Concerted Elimination, and Isomerization Channels of the Alkyl Peroxy Radical journal November 2011
High-Pressure Rate Rules for Alkyl + O 2 Reactions. 2. The Isomerization, Cyclic Ether Formation, and β-Scission Reactions of Hydroperoxy Alkyl Radicals journal May 2012
Effects of Olefin Group and Its Position on the Kinetics for Intramolecular H-Shift and HO 2 Elimination of Alkenyl Peroxy Radicals journal February 2011
Detailed Modeling of Low-Temperature Propane Oxidation: 1. The Role of the Propyl + O 2 Reaction journal June 2010
Automatic estimation of pressure-dependent rate coefficients journal January 2012
Reformulation and Solution of the Master Equation for Multiple-Well Chemical Reactions journal May 2013
From the Time-Dependent, Multiple-Well Master Equation to Phenomenological Rate Coefficients journal October 2002
Predictive a priori pressure-dependent kinetics journal December 2014
Comprehensive chemical kinetic modeling of the oxidation of 2-methylalkanes from C7 to C20 journal December 2011
An Approach for Formulating Surrogates for Gasoline with Application toward a Reduced Surrogate Mechanism for CFD Engine Modeling journal November 2011
Ignition of alkane-rich FACE gasoline fuels and their surrogate mixtures journal January 2015
Constrained reaction volume shock tube study of n -heptane oxidation: Ignition delay times and time-histories of multiple species and temperature journal January 2015
Methane/ethane/propane mixture oxidation at high pressures and at high, intermediate and low temperatures journal November 2008
Evaluation of models for the low temperature combustion of alkanes through interpretation of pressure–temperature ignition diagrams journal January 2006
Uncertainty propagation in the derivation of phenomenological rate coefficients from theory: A case study of n-propyl radical oxidation journal January 2013
Low-temperature speciation and chemical kinetic studies of n-heptane journal December 2013
Autoignition of methylcyclohexane at elevated pressures journal September 2009
Dimethyl ether autoignition in a rapid compression machine: Experiments and chemical kinetic modeling journal December 2008
Kinetics of elementary reactions in low-temperature autoignition chemistry journal August 2011
Mechanistic Modeling of Lubricant Degradation. 2. The Autoxidation of Decane and Octane journal May 2008
Measurements, Theory, and Modeling of OH Formation in Ethyl + O 2 and Propyl + O 2 Reactions journal June 2003
An updated comprehensive kinetic model of hydrogen combustion journal January 2004
Methyl formate oxidation: Speciation data, laminar burning velocities, ignition delay times, and a validated chemical kinetic model: Methyl Formate Oxidation journal July 2010
A comprehensive kinetic mechanism for CO, CH 2 O, and CH 3 OH combustion : Comprehensive Kinetic Mechanism for CO, CH journal January 2007
Thermal decomposition reaction and a comprehensive kinetic model of dimethyl ether journal January 2008
n-Butane: Ignition delay measurements at high pressure and detailed chemical kinetic simulations journal August 2010
Detailed chemical kinetic mechanisms for combustion of oxygenated fuels journal January 2000
Interpreting shock tube ignition data journal January 2004
Chemical-kinetic modeling of ignition delay: Considerations in interpreting shock tube data journal March 2010
Evaluation of reaction scheme at high initial temperature condition bypassing low-temperature reaction journal September 2009
Addition of toluene and ethylbenzene to mixtures of H2 and O2 at 773 K journal June 2002
Evaluated Kinetic Data for Combustion Modeling: Supplement II journal September 2005
Chemical Kinetic Data Base for Combustion Chemistry. Part 2. Methanol journal July 1987
Shock-tube study of CH2O pyrolysis and oxidation journal March 1993
Kinetics of the reactions of the formyl radical with oxygen, nitrogen dioxide, chlorine, and bromine journal February 1988
Comprehensive H2/O2 kinetic model for high-pressure combustion journal December 2011
Conceptual models for partially premixed low-temperature diesel combustion journal April 2013
A rapid compression machine study of the oxidation of propane in the negative temperature coefficient regime journal April 2008

Cited By (6)

The multichannel n -propyl + O 2 reaction surface: Definitive theory on a model hydrocarbon oxidation mechanism journal March 2018
Computational study on the mechanism and kinetics for the reaction between HO 2 and n -propyl peroxy radical journal January 2019
Modeling study of the anti-knock tendency of substituted phenols as additives: an application of the reaction mechanism generator (RMG) journal January 2018
Low temperature first ignition of n -butane journal July 2019
Modeling of Thermal Runaway Propagation in a Pouch Cell Stack journal March 2020
Kinetics in the real world: linking molecules, processes, and systems journal January 2018