Issue 21, 1992

Oscillatory cool flames in the combustion of diethyl ether

Abstract

An experimental and numerical study of the oscillatory cool flames of a C2H5OC2H5+ O2+ N2 mixture has been performed in a jet-stirred flow reactor at reactant pressures up to 300 mmHg. The mean residence time was 4 ± 2 s. Reaction was detected by a very fine thermocouple in the vessel. The primary objective was to study the low-temperature oxidation of diethyl ether and to establish the kinetic origins of this reactivity. The dialkyl ethers appear to be the most reactive class of organic compounds as far as cool flame and ignition phenomena are concerned, the lowest temperature at which oscillatory cool flames were observed in the present experiments being 430 K. The highest temperature for their existence was 590 K. No ignitions were detected in these experiments but complex oscillatory-cool-flame modes were obtained. The pTa regions for the existence of the different kinds of reactions were mapped.

Numerical analysis was based on a 92 reaction scheme developed from that used to study the cool flame and ignition phenomena of acetaldehyde. Particular attention was paid to the processes involving alkylperoxy and alkyldiperoxy species. Oscillatory cool flames were obtained in the modelling at vessel temperatures considerably below those corresponding to the cool flames of acetaldehyde. The low-temperature reactivity of diethyl ether oxidation appears to be associated with the primary hydroperoxide CH3CH(OOH)OC2H5. Dihydroperoxides seem not to play any part in the chain branching associated with this oxidation. Aperiodic non-isothermal phenomena were also obtained in the simulations, the kinetic origins of which appear to be related to reactions of the CH3CO radical, as also found in acetaldehyde oxidation.

Article information

Article type
Paper

J. Chem. Soc., Faraday Trans., 1992,88, 3153-3158

Oscillatory cool flames in the combustion of diethyl ether

J. F. Griffiths and T. Inomata, J. Chem. Soc., Faraday Trans., 1992, 88, 3153 DOI: 10.1039/FT9928803153

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Spotlight

Advertisements