Experimental study on the explosion behaviors of premixed syngas-air mixtures in ducts

Explosion characteristics of premixed syngas-air mixtures at room temperature and atmospheric pressure were experimentally reported when the explosion flame propagates in ducts with various heights (H) and lengths (L). The discussion was based on flame morphology and pressure dynamics. The ratio of L/H and the ratio of H₂/CO had a significant effect on the explosion flame behaviors as the explosion occurred in ducts. The structure of the explosion flame changes more drastically, as both the L/H ratio is large. The ratio of L/H affected the flame tip dynamics after the flame reached the duct wall, and the time of flame reaching the duct walls is divinable. For a given duct height, the shorter the duct length is, the faster flame propagates, and the maximum flame tip speed was higher as the duct length was small. For a given duct length, flame tip dynamics showed a nearly same development tendency, but the shorter the duct height, the faster the flame propagated. The venting pressure affected the overpressure dynamics, and the venting pressure increased with the increase of the L/H ratio and the H₂/CO. For a given duct height, the overpressure reached the maximum value almost at the same time, and the longer duct length resulted in the greater maximum overpressure. Finally, for a given duct length, the higher duct height caused the higher maximum overpressure.     

Effects of CO2 addition on deflagration characteristics of syngas-air premixed mixtures in T-pipeline

With the industrial application of syngas, the explosion accident caused by it has gradually become a topic of concern for researchers. In this paper, the effects of CO₂ addition on the deflagration characteristics of syngas-air premixed mixtures were investigated through experiments and numerical simulations. Experiments were carried out inside a T-pipeline, using a high-speed camera and a pressure sensor to simultaneously record the flame evolution and pressure dynamics during deflagration. Simulations were calculated using the GRI 3.0 mechanism by Chemkin Premix Code. The results show that the addition of CO₂ has a certain inhibitory effect on the flame propagation, which can make the finger flame in the vertical pipe evolve into a “tulip” flame. And under the inhibition of CO₂, the deflagration overpressure of the mixture is reduced, and the number of H, O, OH radicals is also greatly reduced, and the chemical reaction rate is correspondingly slowed down.     

Experimental and numerical study of the laminar burning velocity of NH3/H2/air premixed flames at elevated pressure and temperature

Ammonia (NH₃) is a carbon-free fuel that shows great research prospects due to its ideal production and storage systems. The experimental data of the laminar burning velocity of NH₃/H₂/air flame at different hydrogen ratios (X_H2 = 0.1–0.5), equivalent ratios (φ = 0.8–1.3), initial pressures (P = 0.1–0.7 MPa), and initial temperatures (T = 298–493 K) were measured. The laminar burning velocity of the NH₃/H₂/air flame increased upon increasing the hydrogen ratios and temperature, but it decreased upon increasing the pressure. The equivalent ratio of the maximum laminar burning velocity was only affected by the proportion of reactants. The equivalence ratio value of the maximum laminar burning velocity was between 1.1 and 1.2 when X_H2 = 0.3. The chemical reaction kinetics of NH₃/H₂/air flame under four different initial conditions was analyzed. The less NO maximum mole fraction was produced during rich combustion (φ > 1). The results provide a new reference for ammonia as an alternative fuel for internal combustion engines.     

Experimental study on the premixed syngas-air explosion in duct with both ends open

Premixed flame of stoichiometric syngas-air mixture with various hydrogen volume fractions, 10% ≤ X (H₂) ≤ 90%, propagating in a duct with both ends open is experimentally investigated in this study. Two representative ignition locations, i.e., Ig-1, locating at the center of the duct, and Ig-2, locating at the right open end, are considered. Results show that the tulip flame is first attained in the duct with both ends open at 10% ≤ X (H₂) ≤ 50% as the flame is ignited at Ig-1. However, the flame maintains the convex shape with the cellular structure on the flame surface as the flame is ignited at Ig-2. The cellular structure results from Darrieus-Landau instability, but the Darrieus-Landau instability cannot invert the convex flame front. The flame tip and pressure dynamics have been examined. When the flame is ignited at Ig-1, the flame oscillates violently, and the overpressure profiles oscillate as a Helmholtz-type. When the flame is ignited at Ig-2, the left flame front propagates in an atmospheric pressure with a nearly constant speed. The prominent flame acceleration and oscillation are not observed at Ig-2 because of lacking flame acoustic interaction. What's more, the characteristic time of flame propagation has been compared. The time t_w is shorter while the time t_p is longer than the calculated value, and the time t_e has been delayed by both open ends. The flame propagation process is moderated as the flame propagates in the duct with both ends open.     

Measurement and correlation of laminar flame speeds of CO and C2 hydrocarbons with hydrogen addition at atmospheric and elevated pressures

The laminar flame speeds of mixtures of ethane, ethylene, acetylene, and carbon monoxide with small amount of hydrogen addition at atmospheric and elevated pressures were experimentally and computationally determined. It was found that the approximate linear correlation identified previously between the laminar flame speeds and an appropriate definition of the amount of hydrogen addition for methane, propane and n-butane at atmospheric pressure also largely applies to ethane, ethylene, and acetylene at atmospheric as well as elevated pressures. The linear correlation, however, does not hold for carbon monoxide, at all pressures, due to the strong catalytic effect of hydrogen on the oxidation of carbon monoxide. A mechanistic analysis shows that both the Arrhenius and diffusive contributions to the laminar flame speed are nearly linear functions of the hydrogen addition, which explains this overall approximate linear correlation.     

Experimental study on the excitation of thermoacoustic instability of hydrogen-methane/air premixed flames under atmospheric and elevated pressure conditions

The current work examines the excitation of thermoacoustic instability of lean premixed hydrogen-methane/air low swirl flames under both atmospheric and elevated pressure conditions (up to 0.3 MPa). Under a given pressure condition, The tests were conducted at different bulk velocities (U), hydrogen proportions (η_H), and equivalence ratios (Ф). Results show that thermoacoustic instability can be excited by increasing one of these variables while keeping others the same. It was found that pressure elevation has a minor effect on the oscillation frequency. Moreover, it was demonstrated that the current instability is induced by large coherent structures. The effect of pressure elevation on the excitation of thermoacoustic instability is found to be Φ dependent. As indicators of the flame response to impinging vortices, the curvature and local flame surface area features were calculated with images captured with the planar laser-induced fluorescence of the OH radical (OH-PLIF) method. Results demonstrate a great similarity between the flame front evolution and the instability trend, implying that the effect of the chamber pressure on the instability trend can be indicated by the change in the flame front curvature and local flame surface area.     

Numerical study on the extinction dynamics of partially premixed meso-scale methane-air jet flames with hydrogen addition

In this paper, a model of partially premixed jet flames that sustained above a meso-scale short tube was established for an individual flame port of domestic gas stoves. The effects of hydrogen addition (volume ratio β = 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%) on the extinction dynamics of CH₄-air jet flames were numerically investigated. It is found that flame oscillation occurs once (β = 10% and 20%) or twice (β = 30%) in the extinction process. Moreover, the larger of β, the longer the extinction process can sustain. Analysis was performed in terms of both chemical effect and thermal effect. As to the chemical effect, in the first place, the reaction rate decreases as the inlet velocity is reduced. As a result, the consumption rate of O₂ will be less than the supply rate from the incoming mixture, which makes the O₂ concentration in the flame center increase. On the other hand, the amount of H radicals increases with the increase of β, and when the O₂ content at the flame center reaches a “critical point”, the key elementary reaction “H + O₂ ? O + OH” will be enhanced and consequently the total reaction rate will also be intensified. After that, the consumption rate of O₂ will be larger than the supply rate due to the reduced flow rate of incoming mixture. The total heat release rate will decrease sharply and extinction occurs. As regards the thermal effect, it is revealed that heat recirculation effect (indirect preheating effect) lags behind the variation of the reaction zone (i.e., flame), thus, it has a negligible impact on flame oscillation. In contrast, the preheating temperature in the vicinity of flame front (named as “direct preheating effect”) exhibits a similar variation tendency with the total heat release rate of the flame. And the larger of β, the more remarkable of the direct preheating effect can be. In summary, due to the chemical effect and thermal effect caused by hydrogen addition, the flame can survive for a longer time with fluctuation during the extinction process.     

Effect of activation at elevated temperature on Li-ion batteries with flame-retarded electrolytes

The effect of activation temperature on Li-ion batteries with flame-retarded electrolytes containing 5 wt.% dimethyl methyl phosphonate (DMMP) and trimethyl phosphate (TMP) is investigated respectively. It is found that activation at elevated temperature promotes the formation of a stable solid electrolyte interface layer on the graphite electrode, which may significantly suppress the reductive decomposition of DMMP and TMP and avoid graphite exfoliation. But fierce oxidation of the electrolytes on the LiCoO₂ electrode at elevated temperature is harmful to the cell performance. A procedure of so-called altered temperature activation (ATA) is adopted for LiCoO₂/graphite full-cells. It can compromise the contradictive effects on the separate electrodes at the elevated temperature. High capacity and good rate capability are obtained for the cells with the flame-retarded electrolytes, especially for the TMP-containing electrolyte.     

Experimental study of propane/air premixed flame dynamics with hydrogen addition in a meso-scale quartz tube

The combustion process of propane/air premixed flame in meso-scale quartz tubes with different hydrogen additions was investigated experimentally to explain the flame-wall interaction mechanism. The ranges of different flame regimes were obtained by changing the flow rates of propane and hydrogen. The effects of hydrogen addition, inlet velocity and equivalence ratio were analyzed. The results show that the hydrogen addition broadens the operation ranges of fast flame regime and slow flame regime significantly. The flame propagation speed is in the same order of the thermal wave speed in solid wall for the slow flames. In fast flame regime, the flame propagation speed has an inverse correlation with the inlet flow velocity irrespective of the equivalence ratio. With the increase of the equivalence ratio, the maximum flame speed in fast flame regime decreases gradually, while the maximum flame speed in slow flame regime increases continually. It indicates that rich fuel condition suppresses the fast flame and promotes the slow flame. In slow flame regime, the output thermal efficiency is dominated by the inlet velocity and equivalence ratio.     

Experimental and numerical study of the influence of initial temperature on explosion limits and explosion process of syngas-air mixtures

To study the effect of initial temperature of 30, 60, 90, and 120 °C on the explosion limits and the explosion process of the syngas-air mixtures, the explosion limits were tested by the explosive limit instrument, and the flame propagation process in the spherical pressure vessel was recorded by the high-speed camera. The ANSYS Fluent 3D software was used to simulate the explosion behavior of syngas-air mixtures. The results showed that with the increase of the initial temperature, the lower explosion limit of syngas decreased and the upper explosion limit increased, and the effect of initial temperature on the upper explosion limit of syngas was greater than that on the lower explosion limit. The flame development process in the simulation was consistent with that in the experiment, propagating outward spherically until it filled the entire container. Both experimental and numerical results presented the same trend of accelerating the flame propagation speed with the increase of initial temperature. In addition, the simulation also obtained multi-dimensional transient explosion parameters that were difficult to obtain in the experiment. The explosion process of syngas was analyzed by the explosion parameters such as temperature and pressure field in the explosion area. An increase in temperature decreased the maximum explosion pressure and shortened the time to reach the maximum explosion pressure.     

The flammability limits of H2–CO–CH4 mixtures in air at elevated temperatures

The present contribution reports experimentally obtained values of the flammability limits of some fuel mixtures made up of H₂, CO, and CH₄ in air at different initial mixture temperatures of up to 300 °C. The potential catalytic effects of the surface of the test apparatus when the fuel–air mixtures were allowed to reside within the test apparatus at elevated temperatures for different time periods prior to ignition were also considered. Both stainless steel and quartz flame tubes of identical design and size were employed in the investigation.     

Ethanol electrooxidation on a carbon-supported Pt catalyst at elevated temperature and pressure: A high-temperature/high-pressure DEMS study

The electrooxidation of ethanol on a Pt/Vulcan catalyst was investigated in model studies by on-line differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS) over a wide range of reaction temperatures (23–100 °C). Potentiodynamic and potentiostatic measurements of the Faradaic current and the CO₂ formation rate, performed at 3 bar overpressure under well-defined transport and diffusion conditions reveal significant effects of temperature, potential and ethanol concentration on the total reaction activity and on the selectivity for the pathway toward complete oxidation to CO₂. The latter pathway increasingly prevails at higher temperature, lower concentration and lower potentials (∼90% current efficiency for CO₂ formation at 100 °C, 0.01 M, 0.48 V), while at higher ethanol concentrations (0.1 M), higher potentials or lower temperatures the current efficiency for CO₂ formation drops, reaching values of a few percent at room temperature. These trends result in a significantly higher apparent activation barrier for complete oxidation to CO₂ (68 ± 2 kJ mol⁻¹ at 0.48 V, 0.1 M) compared to that of the overall ethanol oxidation reaction determined from the Faradaic current (42 ± 2 kJ mol⁻¹ at 0.48 V, 0.1 M). The mechanistic implications of these results and the importance of relevant reaction and mass transport conditions in model studies for reaction predictions in fuel cell applications are discussed.     

斯特林冰箱的温度场模拟与实验研究

与传统的蒸汽压缩式制冷机相比,斯特林冰箱具有制冷温度区间广、启动电流低、制冷量易调、效率高,且无制冷剂污染的特点。由于斯特林冰箱在环保节能方面具有明显的优势,因而作为冰箱、冷柜,其对于小容量冰箱的冷源具有相当大的优越性。对斯特林冰箱进行了箱体设计,并在制冷温度为193 K时对冰箱箱体进行了布点,测量冰箱温度场变化,并运用Fluent软件对冰箱的温度场进行了模拟,将模拟结果与实验结果进行了比较,得出两者差值,并对其原因进行了分析。研究发现,箱体内部存在一定的温度梯度,制冷冷端面积较小,不利于冷量的传递。     

Well-ordered sulfonated silica electrolyte with high proton conductivity and enhanced selectivity at elevated temperature for DMFC

Periodic ordered sulphonated-silica nanoelectrolytes with 2D hexagonal (2D-H), 3D body-centered cubic (3D-BC) and 3D cubic bicontinuous (3D-CB) structures were synthesized through multiphase hydrogen bonds self-assembly between the charged silica, 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane and triblock copolymer. Small-angle XRD and high resolution TEM results exhibit uniform nanoarrays with long-range order of the electrolytes. The well-ordered structure demonstrated a facile proton transport pathway of the electrolyte. At elevated temperature of 200 °C, the conductivity of the sulphonated-2D-H, sulphonated-3D-BC and sulphonated-3D-CB electrolytes reach to 0.270 S cm⁻¹, 0.188 S cm⁻¹ and 0.242 S cm⁻¹, respectively. The low swelling and phase transformation of methanol at the elevated temperature also make low fuel crossover through the sulphonated-silica electrolyte. In the elevated temperature range of 120–200 °C, the limiting methanol permeation current densities decreased dramatically to 0.1–0.5 mA/cm², resulting in an improved relative selectivity to 66.02–91.74. Thus, the sulphonated-silica electrolyte is promising as high-temperature electrolyte membranes for direct methanol fuel cells.     

Non-monotonic behaviors of laminar burning velocities of H2/O2/He mixtures at elevated pressures and temperatures

Both experimental and calculated laminar burning velocities of H₂/O₂/He mixtures were obtained, with equivalence ratios of 0.6–4.0, initial pressures of 0.1 MPa–0.5 MPa, initial temperature of 373 K, and dilution ratio of 7.0. Laminar burning velocities changed non-monotonically with the increasing initial pressures at equivalence ratios of 1.0–3.0. The decrease of overall reaction orders can explain the non-monotonic relationship between the laminar burning velocities and initial pressures. Consumption and production of both H and HO₂ radicals were also obtained to explain the decrease of overall reaction order. The competition of H and HO₂ radical between elemental reactions were also discussed. The three body reaction R15 (H + O₂(+M) = HO₂(+M)) gained more H radical in the competition with R1 (H + O₂ = O + OH), producing more HO₂ radical. Through the reaction pathway analysis, the restraint in production of both OH and H leaded to a reducing radical pool. The poorer reaction pool would restrain the overall reaction and lead to the reduction of overall reaction order and the non-monotonic behavior of the laminar burning velocity.     

Experimental and kinetic study of laminar flame characteristics of H2/O2/diluent flame under elevated pressure

Laminar burning velocity, Markstein length, and critical flame radius of an H₂/O₂ flame with different diluents, He, Ar, N₂ and CO₂, were measured under elevated pressure with different diluent concentrations. The effects of pressures, diluents, and dilution and equivalence ratios were studied by comparing calculated and experimental results. The laminar burning velocity showed non-monotonic behavior with pressure when the dilution ratio was low. The reason is the radical pool reduced with increasing pressure and leads to the decrease of overall reaction order from larger than 2 to smaller than 2, and further leads to this non-monotonic phenomenon. A modified empirical equation was presented to capture the relationship between active radicals and laminar burning velocity. Critical radii and Markstein lengths both decrease with initial pressure and increase with equivalence ratio and dilution ratio. The calculated critical radii indicate that the Peclet number and flame thickness control the change of R_cr. It can be found that Le_eff has a significant influence on Peclet number and leads to the decrease of critical flame radii of Ar, N_2, and CO₂ diluted mixture. Interestingly, the CO₂ diluted mixture has the lowest Markstein length under stoichiometric conditions and a high value under fuel-rich conditions, consistent as the flame instability observed on the flame images. The reason is that the Le_eff of CO₂ diluted mixture increased rapidly with the equivalence ratio.     

Experimental and numerical study of the effect of initial temperature on the combustion characteristics of premixed syngas/air flame

The effects of different initial temperatures (T = 300–500 K) and different hydrogen volume fractions (5%–20%) on the combustion characteristics of premixed syngas/air flames in rectangular tubes were investigated experimentally. A high-speed camera and pressure sensor were used to obtain flame propagation images and overpressure dynamics. The CHEMKIN-PRO model and GRI Mech 3.0 mechanism were used for simulation. The results show that the flame propagation speed increases with the initial temperature before the flame touches the wall, while the opposite is true after the flame touches the wall. The increase in initial temperature leads to the increase in overpressure rise rate in the early flame propagation process, but the peak overpressure is reduced. The laminar burning velocity (LBV) and adiabatic flame temperature (AFT) increase with increasing initial temperature. The increase in initial temperature makes the peaks of H, O, and OH radicals increase.     

Numerical investigation on combustion characteristics of laminar premixed n-heptane/air flames at elevated initial temperature and pressure

Freely-propagating laminar premixed n-heptane/air flames were modeled using the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) v3.1 n-heptane mechanism and the PREMIX code. Numerical calculations were conducted for unburned mixture temperature range of 298–423 K, at elevated pressures 1–10 atm and equivalent ratio 0.6–1.6, and the changes of laminar burning velocity (LBV), adiabatic flame temperature (AFT), heat release rate (HRR), and concentration profiles of important intermediate species were obtained. The results show that the overall results of LBVs of n-heptane at different elevated temperatures, pressures, and equivalence ratios are in good agreement with available experimental results. However, at the initial temperature 353 K, the calculated values of LBVs at pressure 1 atm and the 10 atm deviate significantly from the experimental results. The sensitivity analysis shows that, similar to many other hydrocarbon fuels, the most sensitive reaction in the oxidation of n-heptane responsible for the rise of flame temperature promoting heat release is R1 H + O₂<=>O + OH, and the reaction that has the greatest influence on heat release is R8 H₂O + M<=>H + OH + M. In addition, when the initial temperature is 353, 398 and 423 K, the mole fractions of H, OH, and O increase rapidly around the flame front, while the mole fractions of C₁C₃ dramatically decreases, reflecting the intense consumption of the intermediate products at the reaction zone.     

Large eddy simulation of hydrogen piloted CH4/air premixed combustion with CO2 dilution

Large eddy simulation (LES) of constant adiabatic temperature, hydrogen-piloted, turbulent lean premixed methane/air jet flames with varying amounts of CO₂ addition are reported. Constant adiabatic temperature is achieved by increasing the fuel flow rate slightly to account for the higher specific heat of CO₂ compared to N₂. Such flames are relevant to low NOx gas turbines with high hydrogen content fuels and Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR). A newly designed burner called Piloted Axisymmetric Reactor Assisted Turbulent (PARAT) flame burner was utilized. The operating conditions in the experiment were selected to highlight the kinetic effects of CO₂ addition by matching the Reynolds numbers, Lewis numbers and adiabatic flame temperatures. The LES simulations utilize a finite rate chemistry solver with DRM19 combustion mechanism with adaptive zoning and a dynamic structure turbulence model. A five-level adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) improves the velocity and temperature gradient resolution. The LES predicts the experimentally observed increase in flame length with CO₂ levels caused by a decrease in the turbulent flame speed. The computational results also capture the experimentally observed departure from the thin flame limit and a collapse of the root mean square (RMS) versus mean temperature profiles for the three levels of CO₂. The flame structure analysis showed super-equilibrium CO concentrations because of non-equilibrium chemistry effects caused by the external addition of CO₂.