Role of acetaldehyde in propane combustion

Abstract

The combustion of propane was studied in a static system at 568 K using the unusual 9:1 ratio of fuel:oxygen mixtures. The high propane pressures effectively inhibited combustion of products so that constant ratios of some of the products were obtained over a very long period. This is turn enabled a number of rate constant ratios to be determined and mechanisms to be justified by comparison with known ratios for similar reactions (at other temperatures).

It was shown that the autocatalytic reactions by which acetaldehyde accelerated the combustion of propane were likely to be sC₃H₇O₂+ CH₃CHO → sC₃H₇OOH + CH₃CO and sC₃H₇O₂H → CH₃CHO + CH₃+ OH which were superseded at higher temperatures where cool flames cease to occur, by [graphic omitted] and by sC₃H₇+ O₂→ C₃H₆+ HO₂ which was the major reaction even at 568 K.